Chocolate
by Rapture-Taylore
Summary: Sequel to Coffee. A smooth and creamy taste or dark and bitter? Continuing with Sakura and Sasuke's new relationship and the problems of romance, work, family and friends.
1. Chapter 1

There's always a pause, as time passes. Whether between the slow tick of the clock as the second hand moves, or the moment where everything is silent in a street at night. As one day hesitates, reluctant to move on to the next in the time between late at night and early morning.

This pause, or stutter between the events of one day to the next, between different events and situations can be tortuously long or ridiculously short. It's the pause where every one freezes as they see a car speeding round the corner moving to hit someone. Time slows as even the most insignificant details are branded into the watchers minds, but its not long enough to react, to prevent it.

It can be the uncertain pause between a life changing question and an answer, as time drags until the reply is given.

Time moves of its own accord. Making your own personal hell last forever and the moments you'd like to savour seem so fleeting and unreal.

Sasuke glared at the clock as he watched the second hand make its slow tedious way round the clock face. Time was moving far too slowly it seemed, and the more time he spent at work, stuck near his brother and Naruto, the more he felt like he wanted to hurt someone.

Sasuke's frown deepened, he tapped his pen against the desk unconsciously mirroring the slow tick-tick of the clock.

He ran a hand through his dark hair in frustration. He couldn't make himself motivated to work, it was Friday and it was half six and he still hadn't managed to leave.

His sadistic bastard of a brother had called a meeting during the lunch hour which had run on for two hours, and Sasuke was now stuck trying to catch up with all the work he was meant to be doing during that pointless meeting.

To make matters worse, there had been absolutely no reason for him being there. Apart from Itachi having the opportunity to make jibes about his lack of family loyalty. Just because he was the only Uchiha who, when deciding to move out, instead of going just a couple of streets away from the main house as most did, Sasuke found a house and moved to the other side of the city.

But Sasuke could easily live with that, it meant that he could easily get away from the pressures his family put on him, his brother and father in particular. His mothers looks of slight disappointment was a different story.

Sasuke leaned back in his chair and stretched. He glanced at the window in the door of his office and noticed that his father was watching him. So, stifling a sigh, Sasuke tried to focus on the last document he had to work through.

After a quick scan of the sheet he realised that this was going to take a while and his annoyance increased as he recalled that this was yet another thing his brother had pressed onto him. Bastard, he thought, but nevertheless Sasuke gritted his teeth and tried to get through it as fast as possible. At least then he could go home and get away from the watchful eyes of his family.

Sasuke stifled a yawn as he shut down his computer, able to finally leave work. After a quick glance at the clock which told him that he would be home almost two hours later than usual, Sasuke wandered towards the stairs. He passed many empty work stations as he headed towards the exit, and towards freedom. And after half an hours driving, getting stopped at almost every damn red light, Sasuke finally got home.

"Surprise." A bored voice greeted him as he opened his front door. Sasuke turned to see a shock of pink hair over the back of his sofa as Sakura leaned back in her seat to look at him. "I hope you don't mind Naruto told me where you keep your spare key." Sasuke looked at Sakura who had quite happily made herself at home in his house and his eyes softened slightly.

"It's fine," He said and was rewarded with a large smile.

"But _you _are late," Sakura protested, pointing at her watch. "And I brought Chinese takeaway." She sounded slightly dejected and Sasuke shook his head slightly, dumping his coat and bags before coming to join her on the sofa. Sakura looked at his tired face.

"Bad day?" She asked sympathetically

"It's starting to look up." She blushed slightly and began to busy herself with the takeaway food.

"We'll probably have to reheat all of this." Sakura said and a slight smirk crossed Sasuke's face as she tried to continue as if he hadn't said anything.

He watched her as she found her way to his kitchen with her bag and he could vividly remember when he had run into her at work. Sasuke had been thrown completely when he saw her, standing looking unsure in the corner of his brother's office. He had instantly tried to ignore her presence as the only bright spot amongst the gloom of the office. She had seemed too naïve to ever survive in the insane office politics and rivalries he had grown up with.

"What?" Sakura's frame eclipsed the light from the doorway as she stood, hands on hips, in front of him. "You're giving me a strange look."

"I was just remembering something," Sakura frowned at him and returned to the kitchen. "You seem to know you way around well." Sasuke commented.

"Because I've been here for ages waiting for you, I had plenty of time to look around. You don't mind do you?" Sasuke shook his head and then realised that she couldn't see him from where she was standing in the kitchen.

"No," He said out loud, "It's fine."

"But you know," Sakura continued. "Your house puts my place to shame, it so much bigger."

"Really? I always thought your flat was nicer." He heard her laughter and then she came back into the room carrying in the takeaway on two plates. She looked at Sasuke, who was just watching her movements and placed them on the coffee table.

"You look really tired Sasuke." She said softly and he shrugged. Sakura reached out and cupped his face in her hands and he gave her a tired smile, before she softly kissed him on the lips and then moved away to hand him the food.

"Eat it whiles it's hot." She said firmly pressing some cutlery into his hands and Sakura watched him take a bite before she started eating herself.

They hadn't been dating long but already Sakura had realised that Sasuke had a terrible diet and often skipped meals during his working hours preferring to just spend his time out and as far away from his office as he could manage. It wasn't what he ate, he usually ate food that was quite healthy, it was more that he didn't bother with any kind of regular meals, something that bothers Sakura a lot. So she had come to try and drag him out for a meal, or for something whenever she was with him.

They ate in silence and after Sakura tidied up the plates and put them back in the kitchen she looked at Sasuke's slumped position on the sofa and wondered what had happened to make his day so bad. He seemed to be barely focusing on anything at all.

"I should get going and leave you in peace." She said softly and Sasuke's hand shot out to stop her.

"Don't," He pulled her down onto the sofa next to him.

"Sasuke you need to get some rest," Sakura said, trying to be the voice of authority.

"I don't want you to leave," He said quietly and Sakura smiled slightly.

It was strange how Sasuke's vulnerability emerged when he was tired. It was as if he didn't have the energy or will to keep his normal barriers and reservation up. On the few times they had been out late at night Sakura had found Sasuke, who always projected an image of independence and self-assurance, hated it when he was alone.

This seemed to be rooted in his childhood and Sakura wouldn't have been surprised if this fear was some how related to his brother, it all seemed to go back to him.

Sakura moved over towards him on the sofa and leant back on him. She had learnt from Hinata that Sasuke and Naruto had spent most of their childhood together and had even disappeared for hours on end causing Sasuke's parents and the orphanage Naruto belonged to endless worry.

"Okay, I won't go." Sasuke wrapped his arms around Sakura and buried his face in her hair. Sakura suppressed a smile, this was a new development, she'd never seen Sasuke act so childishly before. "Sasuke," She whispered.

"Mmm?"

"What are you thinking about?" He was quiet for a while before replying.

"You?" He said hesitantly as if trying to gauge what the right answer was. Sakura sighed.

"Liar, come on Sasuke I want to know what's bothering you. I've never seen you like this before. Not that I'm complaining much." Sakura shifted in his arms and half turned so she could raise his head to meet his eyes. Sasuke looked away across to the other side of the room.

"It was just a shit day at work." He said pulling her closer to him.

"Tell me about it." Sakura said running her fingers along the back of his hand. Sasuke sighed, shifting his hands so he could catch Sakura's in his own.

"I got stuck in a meeting with my brother, that's all really and I had to stay late because of it." Sakura shook her head slightly.

"Liar," She said again. "Something's bothering you and it isn't just that," Sasuke looked hesitant.

"I'm sorry." He said loosening his grip on her hands .Sakura frowned, this was definitely getting weird, he never apologised. Not even after he ditched her for several weeks. "I'm just not ready to talk about it yet." Sakura nodded and settled back into his arms. She gently ran her fingers over a small bruise on his arm and he shifted uncomfortably.

Sakura frowned, lost in her own thoughts as she thought about her conversation with Naruto which seemed to have occurred years ago. She wondered if Sasuke knew and what he would say if he didn't.

Sasuke shivered slightly as Sakura gently ran her fingers over the purple mark on his arm, he watched her expression change as she thought of different things. Sasuke watched her fingers pass over the bruise and his thoughts travelled back to his brother. It was always a stupid argument that started it, it always was, but Sasuke's pride refused to let him back down, they had been arguing in one of the many corridors at work which had been lucky in a way as things didn't escalate into something worse, there had been some pressure on his arm as Itachi had grabbed it to whisper something in his ear and that had been it.

Of course Naruto has spent the next hour hanging around being concerned, which had been the worst part. Why Naruto couldn't stay as an idiot instead of being a perceptive idiot was beyond Sasuke.

Sakura smiled as she studied Sasuke's face, his sweet attitude from before seemed to have vanished and he had a more serious expression on his face. She reached out and brushed his hair away from his face, managing to jerk him out of his thoughts. He gave her a questioning look and Sakura smiled.

"We should go somewhere," She said.

"What, now?" Sasuke gave her a strange look and Sakura laughed.

"No," She protested half heartedly. "Another time and just, I don't know, go out somewhere away from the city." Sasuke frowned slightly.

"Where did this come from?" He asked and Sakura shrugged reluctant to say the real reason. That she wanted to get him away from the city to where his family was to see if he would finally relax properly.

"I thought it might be nice," She said and Sasuke sighed.

"Alright," He said wearily and Sakura grinned at him.

"It'll be fun, I promise." Sasuke looked doubtful.

"You also said it would be fun to go out with your friends," Sakura looked slightly sheepish.

"Ino's relatively harmless. She's just always been a little overprotective of me." Sasuke frowned at her.

"I don't think bringing carving knives into the conversation was just a 'little overprotective'." He said flatly and Sakura gave him a sympathetic smile.

"She's always been a little eccentric. She's just disappointed that you're life isn't surrounded by a web of conspiracy." Sasuke gave Sakura a strange look and Sakura found herself getting protective of Ino. "She's a bit too fond of crime drama." Sakura explained. "And anyway, it's not like your friends are completely normal." Sasuke shook his head.

"I never said they weren't. But I can safely say that none of them have ever used death, disembowelment and what else was it? Oh yes, desecrating the body as a threat." Sakura cringed slightly.

"She was that bad?"

"Although I thought the alliteration was a nice touch," Sasuke said thoughtfully. He raised his hand to his mouth to stifle a yawn and Sakura looked at him sympathetically.

"You're tired. I should really go this time." Sasuke nodded reluctantly. Before she could make a move to leave he tightened his grip round her waist and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Get home safely," He said softly, "And just so you know you're always welcome to come back here whenever, whether I'm here or not." Sakura nodded and pulled away from him.

"Get some rest," She said firmly, "I'll call you tomorrow." Sasuke nodded and released her, she made a move to tidy up the mess from the take away she had brought but Sasuke stopped her.

"I'll do it." He said and propelled Sakura towards the door before she could protest. She hesitated in the doorway looking up at Sasuke as he leant against the doorframe watching her, his dark eyes partially hidden by his unruly hair.

"Goodbye Sasuke." Sakura said softly and he nodded. Sakura made her way down the few steps onto the pavement she turned to see that Sasuke was still watching her and smiled before walking down the street.

Sasuke's eyes followed Sakura as she walked down the street until she turned and he could no longer see her. He gave a small sight and retreated back into his house, closing the door firmly behind him. He leant against the smooth wood and sighed, wondering how long this small piece of happiness would last.


	2. Chapter 2

Sakura stretched at her desk as she watched her patient slowly make their way out of the room. She smiled briefly, feeling satisfied that she was able to help someone out. And it was only when she heard the soft click of the door as it shut firmly that she felt able to lean back into her chair with a sigh. It had been a long and busy day.

Sakura gently spun round in her chair as her thoughts wandered and finally fixed on Sasuke. She smiled again as she recalled last night when he had come home looking so annoyed after work.

The smiled widened as she remembered the irritated look on his face. He seemed to put up with so much, he was one of the people who seemed to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders and surprisingly enough he wasn't bitter about it.

She had heard from Naruto enough about his disagreements with his brother and Sasuke himself had told her of his fight with his father to get his own house away from the rest of his family. It was funny how Naruto and Hinata, whose source was also Naruto – enquiring about Sasuke on Sakura's behalf, seemed to be her main way of understanding Sasuke's life. It wasn't that he deliberately shut her out, it just seemed as if he had a reluctance to talk about his family life in any way or form.

After checking her list of appointments Sakura found that she had half an hour free unless she was called for an emergency. So she took it as an opportunity to see Temari at reception to enjoy a cup of coffee and to catch up with her.

"Hey Sakura," Temari greeted her, her gaze still fixed on the computer. "Make me a cup will you." Sakura nodded and poured Temari a cup of strong black coffee after sweetening her own.

"Here." Sakura said placing the cup next to her friend who reached out and drank half of it in one go, Sakura winced. "Bad day"

"Bad week really," Temari muttered furiously typing on her keyboard.

She slumped back into her chair and took another swing of her coffee, "I mean is it physically impossible for me to stay with a man or something?" She said pulling at the ends of her hair. "I met someone, really nice, and I don't know," Temari looked dejected "Do I just scare the crap out of men or something because everyone I date just stops calling me. And do you know what, no ones ever broken up with me face to face I always get a message on the answering machine, or an email saying that they don't think it'll work or some other lame excuse."

"Well, you can be quite overbearing sometimes," Sakura said cautiously and Temari snorted.

"Why don't you just come out and say that I'm a bossy bitch?" She muttered into her coffee cup.

"Hey," Tsunade said joining them, "No swearing at the reception desk, it gives a bad impression."

"No one's here," Temari muttered mutinously and Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"That's beside the point," She said, "but Temari really you won't meet anyone with that negative attitude."

"I'm going to end up old, alone and keeping cats," Temari groaned with her face in her hands, completely ignoring her boss. Tsunade raised her eyebrows.

"I'm sure cats will give you a more fulfilling life than any man could," She said and both Sakura and Temari stared at her. "I'm just saying men want attention, care, food, a clean home, sex, to be waited on hand foot and finger and what do cats want? Food and a place to sleep."

"That's not true Tsunade," Sakura protested and Tsunade gave them a slight smile.

"Like your Sasuke is perfect." She teased and now it was Sakura's turn to roll her eyes.

"I didn't say that," She said "he's far from perfect."

"So?" Tsunade sat on the table next to Sakura "Tell us all about what terrible faults he has." Temari turned round in her chair to give her full attention to the conversation.

"Oh, come on." Sakura laughed.

"No Sakura, tell us," Temari said with a slight laugh, "We've heard enough about how perfect he is."

"And are any man's eyes really that amazing?" Tsunade chipped in and Sakura felt her self turn pink with embarrassment.

"So tell us something else," Temari said, "anything?" She asked when she noticed Sakura's frown.

"Well," Sakura started hesitantly, "I still don't think he trusts me that much. I only know things about his personal life from at I've been told by his friend behind his back. But then, the more I hear the more I can see why Sasuke doesn't want to talk about it." Sakura looked down at the floor as Tsunade looked thoughtful.

"Maybe he doesn't want to bother you with it," She suggested.

"And maybe I want to be bothered," Sakura grumbled and Temari exchanged a knowing look with Tsunade.

"Why don't you confront him about it?" Temari suggested, "That's what I'd do, but then again that might be why all my relationships end badly."

"That could be why your boyfriends think you're scary," Tsunade said softly and Temari glared at her boss.

"I tried that once," Sakura mused, "We argued and he disappeared for weeks."

"Sounds like someone can hold a grudge," Temari said and Sakura laughed.

"I supposed he can be quite stubborn."

"That makes the two of you then." Tsunade said and when Sakura glared at her she looked back innocently, "What? It's true"

"What did you argue about?" Temari asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Trust," Sakura said "Again I suppose." Temari grinned.

"You need to get him drunk, so that way he'll answer all your questions and not remember telling you the morning after."

"Temari! I couldn't do that it's dishonest," Sakura protested, Tsunade shrugged.

"It works for me."

"You two can't be serious," Sakura said, half laughing.

"As if I would joke about anything like this," Tsunade said, pretending to be appalled by the statement, both Temari and Sakura laughed.

Sakura smiled enjoying the light-hearted conversation as Tsunade regaled them with stories of her catastrophic past relationships. Despite Temari and Tsunade's suggestions she had no intention of pressing Sasuke about his past, or even beating it out of him. She still enjoyed his company and just hoped that one day he might take a chance and confide in her.

The soft giggles at Sakura's work were a sharp contrast to the sombre air in the offices of the Uchiha building where gloom seemed to have descended on one person in particular.

Sasuke frowned at his computer screen as he read through the emails he had acquired over night. They seemed to be just full of complaints and grievances within the company. One email almost made him smile. Naruto had sent him a long winded account of how he felt someone had sexually harassed him with their eyes in the lift and that he was telling him after the company wide email on the problems of sexual harassment in the workplace. But, further investigation after Sasuke had actually bothered to answer the email he found that Naruto had just been given a funny look. Typical, he was over exaggerating as usual.

"Mr Uchiha?" A dark haired young woman stuck her head in his office through the open doorway, "did you get the message from IT?"

Sasuke looked at the glowing numbers on his answering machine and saw the very depressing thing that he had over twenty messages. He groaned and ran his hands through his hair.

"Not yet, I'll get to it in a minute," The woman nodded.

"Okay. It's just that they're having trouble with the server or something, anyway all paperwork and files have to be done by hand at the moment." Sasuke nodded and she disappeared down the corridor. Frustrated, he sat back in his chair, great, more needless hassle, just what he needed.

A few hours later found Sasuke sitting with a mound of paperwork, as the point of making all these forms electronic were originally supposed to get rid of the overwhelming mounds of paper that cluttered up his desk.

"Your desk looks as bad as mine," Sasuke looked up and saw Naruto in the doorway. He strode in without an invitation and peered over the stacks of paper to look at Sasuke's disgruntled expression. "It looks like we have so much more work with it like this." He commented and Sasuke nodded. "So…" Naruto continues and Sasuke frowned at the overly casual tone of voice, "how are things with Sakura?" He said with a smirk.

"Who's making you ask?"

"No one, no one," Naruto said hastily, "I was just curious." Sasuke gave him a wry smile.

"And I suppose your curiosity won't be satisfied with just a 'fine'?" Naruto grinned at his friend.

"Nope, it wants details."

"Idiot," Sasuke muttered, and then he raised his voice. "Things are fine." Naruto scowled at him.

"Have you told her anything?"

"No," Sasuke said, filling out another form. "And I have no intention of doing so."

"That's not very fair on her," Naruto said and Sasuke shrugged.

"She'd probably only worry and besides it would change everything and I don't want that, things are _fine_ how they are." He said stressing to word to annoy Naruto further. Naruto just looked thoughtfully at Sasuke.

"Well, it is up to you but I don't think Sakura's opinion of you will change. She likes you."

"And she also likes you. It just shows how poor her judgement it." Sasuke said flatly and Naruto gave his friend a sarcastic smile.

"Thanks for that, if I ever need cheering up I know who to come to." Sasuke smirked when he heard Naruto add a "bastard" under his breath.

Time passed as Sasuke worked his was through his small mountain of paperwork, he worked through lunch, ignoring his hunger and managed to complete all of the papers with the help of a constant stream of very strong coffee.

It was very late in the day when Sasuke had almost finished and he gathered some of the papers to drop them off at the various departments where they were needed. Most people seemed to prefer to come into work early so they could also leave early and the offices were quiet, with only a few people there catching up on their work of sorting out a few last minute problems.

"Good evening Sasuke," Sasuke frowned and turned to see Itachi walking up behind him. Sasuke stayed silent. "Such an inconvenient day really, all those problems with the computers," He looked at the papers in Sasuke's arms, "You seemed to have coped though." He was, again, greeted with silence. Sasuke gave his brother a stony look as they stood quietly in the corridor for a few moments, well if Itachi wasn't going to get the point he might as well leave. They were never usually ones for pointless conversation. He turned to go when Itachi grabbed Sasuke's upper arm causing him to wince and drop the papers he was carrying it was more out of shock than because it hurt.

"That girl…" Itachi started and Sasuke felt his temper flare although he did his best to subdue it.

"What about her?" He muttered but Itachi just put more pressure on his arm to stop him interrupting.

"She's pretty interesting isn't she?"

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke said turning to look into his brother's eyes while trying not to flinch the awkward position his arm was now twisted in as Itachi had managed to put his thumb right over an old bruise.

"Just thinking. I had fun with her last time when she came into the office, you should invite her in again sometime."

"As if I'd ever do that with you here," Sasuke said venomously and Itachi smiled, giving his brother's arm another squeeze before releasing him. It would have been a comforting gesture if it didn't hurt.

"You might. It would save me the trouble of looking for her again." His gaze fell to the papers Sasuke had dropped on the floor. "You might want to pick that up." Sasuke scowled at Itachi's retreating back. Bastard, why was he so interested in Sakura anyway? He bent down and gathered up the papers before dropping them off in their respective departments.

He then wandered down the quiet corridors and powered down the computer, not that he had used it much anyway. Sasuke gathered his belongings and headed down to the stairs to leave. He got halfway to the stairways before he was stopped.

"Leaving already Sasuke?" Sasuke half turned at the voice and narrowed his eyes at his older brother. What he had done to deserve two encounters with Itachi in one day he didn't know and the fact that Itachi was still here willing to work was another point against Sasuke in their father's eyes. "You wouldn't be going to see that girl of yours would you?" Itachi said conversationally.

"What's it to you?" Sasuke asked, hostility was evident in his voice.

"Just thinking, you know father won't be pleased if he hears of you slacking off because of a woman." Sasuke looked at his brother in disbelief, and then looked around the empty office.

"It's nearly seven, I'm hardly leaving early," Sasuke said flatly.

"It's earlier than you usually leave," Sasuke frowned. It was just like his brother to watch his every move, forcing himself to relax under his brother scrutinising gaze, Sasuke shrugged.

"I stayed late last night anyway," He said turning away from Itachi to continue his long walk down the eerily silent corridor, his footsteps echoing as he walked towards the exit.

"Yes, you did." Itachi murmured to himself thoughtfully.

As Sasuke walked he could feel Itachi's gaze on him and felt quite unsettled at the encounter. It was the most civil conversation they had had for a while, especially after their meeting in the office corridors earlier but that was what had made it unsettling. It was almost like a hint of what a normal brotherly relationship could be like, what they could have been like without their family's rivalry.

Sasuke, however, was far more used to looking for double meanings in his brother's words, and this seemed to be more of a warning than anything else, not to give anyone, Itachi included, a reason to think he was slacking off and to tell his father.

Sasuke snorted, not that Sakura made a difference, he had been avoiding work for a long time before he had even met Sakura. But he knew people would find some way to blame her for Sasuke's lack of motivation and maybe even find a way to finish their relationship, and then what would he do.

Why did Itachi have a sudden interest in a girl anyway? And it couldn't be simply a coincidence that it was the same one he was dating. Sasuke gave a wry smile he could almost thank his brother for the advanced warning he had been given at least he knew what he had to prepare himself against.


	3. Chapter 3

As the warmer weather started to creep through the final breezy days of spring and the bare heat of summer arrived, you could see couples spending time together at the park lying in each other's arms. Tables were set up outside by restaurants to offer their patrons the chance to dine outside and take advantage of the sunshine. It was on a rare, cloudless day with the sun beating down on them from the sky that Sakura dragged Sasuke onto a bus and out of town.

"Remind me again why I agreed to this?" Sasuke asked, shifting uncomfortably in the seat next to her, Sakura smiled at him.

"Because it'll be good for you," Sakura said firmly and Sasuke rolled his eyes, "You should have dressed for the weather." Sasuke shrugged slightly as Sakura eyed his t-shirt and jeans, even then he looked hot in it compared to the lose shorts other men on the bus were wearing. "But then again you never do, I don't know why I'm surprised."

Sasuke looked at Sakura's clothing out of the corner of his eyes, she was definitely dressed for the warmer weather, and even seemed happy in the stifling heat of the bus where too many bodies were together in such an enclosed space. He narrowed his eyes slightly, he didn't think he'd ever seen that much of Sakura's skin before. Sakura caught his eyes and smiled.

"What? Don't you like what I'm wearing?" She asked an innocent expression on her face. Sasuke sighed and nodded slightly after realising that it wasn't worth teasing her and saying that; no, he didn't like it as it would probably result in her giving him a headache about it.

Sakura found herself smiling at Sasuke again, "Good answer," Sasuke gave her a small smile in return.

"Where are we even going?" He asked after they had sat in silence for a while and he found himself, once again, rewarded with a smile.

"It's a secret," She said, her eyes shining mischievously. Sasuke just looked back at her with a flat expression on his face. "Oh come on, you've taken me over the city and refused to tell me where you were taking me, let me have my fun and do the same to you."

"Fine," Sasuke muttered and looked past her and out the window at the fields they were passing. He didn't recognise any of it. He looked at Sakura who seemed to be staring fixedly out of the window although she seemed to be aware that he was watching her as a small smile graced her features despite her attempts to prevent it.

"What?" She said quietly as Sasuke looked at her carefully.

"You haven't gotten us lost have you?" He said after some consideration.

"No!" Sakura protested, still looking out across the fields.

"Then why do you keep looking out the window?" Sakura sighed and glanced in his direction for a moment before returning to the view.

"Because if I remember correctly we'll need to get off here soon." Sasuke gave her a doubtful look and Sakura reached out to give him a slight shove. "Behave," She said firmly and Sasuke raised his eyebrows at her. She stuck her tongue out at him in reply.

Sakura suddenly stuck her arm out and hit the stop button on the bus. Sasuke looked at her with some alarm as her arm was only a few inches from his face. Sakura cleared her throat slightly.

"This is our stop," She said in way of explanation.

"I guessed that," Sasuke muttered and she gave him a small push to get him off his seat.

"Come on lets go."

"You're being unusually violent today," He said standing up.

"I'm excited, can you blame me?"

"Yes," She scowled at him, "And stop hitting me." Sakura's expression grew serious as it crossed her mind that her actions might have reminded him of his own volatile relationship with Itachi. She had noticed that he had a small bruise on his upper arm, half concealed by the sleeve of his top.

"Sorry," She said looking down at her lap but she was glad when Sasuke took her hand and led her down to the front of the bus.

They both thanked the driver and watched as the bus drove off without them. Sasuke gave her a sideways glance as they stood by the side of the road.

"Now will you tell me where we are?"

"At the lakes," She said simply and Sasuke frowned.

"Lakes?" He asked and Sakura nodded.

"My parents always used to take me here when I was little. It's amazing and I want to share it with you. Come on." Sakura walked ahead gently tugging on Sasuke's hand to make him walk faster.

They paused, hand in hand, at a large expanse of water, watching as a few birds flew down to land upon the waters surface causing it to ripple.

The lake was surrounded by trees although it was possible to see other lakes behind the first one. There was little noise despite them being near a main road and only a few people could be seen walking around the lakes, it seemed that the warmer weather had brought more people to the coast rather than the country.

"What do you think?" Sakura asked feeling slightly nervous for sharing a large piece of her childhood with Sasuke. He gave her a small smile.

"It's…nice." He said finally and she stared at him, despite the pathetic compliment she could see that he was impressed by the place. Maybe he wasn't so hard to read as she'd originally thought. She gave his hand a slight squeeze and he turned to look at her.

"Shall we go?" Sasuke nodded and Sakura led him down to towards the water where a path had been worn down though the grass leaving bare earth as a walkway.

"You used to come here often then?" Sasuke asked as they slowly walked around the first lake.

"All the time," Sakura said and gave him a sheepish smile. "Well it felt like we always came here. It was nice you know, just to get out of the city. It wasn't even as if we lived near the town centre but where I lived there was only a small patch of grass and my mum wanted me to have more in my childhood than just a memory of cars, streets and pavement." Sasuke gave her a small smile.

"I used to come here with Ino as well," Sakura continued and Sasuke looked surprised.

"How long have you known her then?" He asked and Sakura smiled, at least her was willing to open up a bit more now and talk to her, this was working a lot better than Temari's idea to get him drunk. Well, it was working well so far anyway.

"Ever since I was a baby. Our parents were next door neighbours and as we were born in the same year they came to rely on each other for lifts to places and as a baby sitter sometimes. We used to come here all together, our two families." Sakura sighed. "I used to do everything with Ino, we used to have sleepovers, we went to parties together and she stuck up for me at school." Sasuke nodded. "I wouldn't say we've drifted apart really it's just that we've met new people like Tenten and Hinata at school and then work and well, now we're not afraid to go out somewhere without the other person. We see less of each other now of course but that's to be expected really."

"Yes, I imagine it's quite hard to meet up as you don't work together," Sasuke muttered and Sakura stopped walking. Sasuke stopped a few feet in front of her and looked at her inquisitively.

"I'm quite curious actually," Sakura said. "How did you and Naruto end up working at the same place anyway?" Sasuke frowned and Sakura wondered if she'd gone too far, as he'd never been that receptive to personal questions before.

"Well, I've always been working for my father in the summer and I even did work experience there. I think it was mainly to separate me from Naruto as he was considered a "bad influence" but when we'd finished school my father had a vacancy for someone else during the summer and Naruto applied for it, and my mum got him the job. After that we kept working there over the summer after we completed each year at university and then just never left really." Sasuke shrugged slightly and Sakura stayed silent taking it all in.

"Why did Naruto apply for the job in the first place?" She asked and Sasuke gave her a small smile.

"Because he was fed up of having to spend summer on his own."

"Is it not strange working with your family?" Sakura asked hesitantly and Sasuke was quiet for a long while.

"It's too, well close really, when I did it when I was younger I saw my father and Itachi for most of the day and I just got fed up of it. That's why I always leave the office when I can really it's nice just to get away from everything." Sasuke frowned slightly. "Things get too tense there anyway," He said quietly so Sakura almost didn't hear what he said.

"Tense?" She repeated and Sasuke nodded. She noticed that he was tense himself and the hand that held hers now gripped it tightly and she frowned and decided not to pursue the point. She squeezed his hand slightly to break him out of his reverie and gave him a warm smile when he looked at her.

Sasuke gave Sakura a considering look, wondering why he had suddenly chosen to divulge some of his past with her. It wasn't much but it was certainly more than he had told other people, with the exception of Naruto who had lived the majority of it with him. He had just opened his mouth and told her without giving it much thought.

He looked at her as she suddenly became self conscious that he was giving her his full attention and she tried to suppress a smile. Like Naruto she seemed to emit some kind of aura that screamed "trust me". However, unlike Naruto, with his naivety and willingness to see the good in everyone no matter how small had a habit of grating on Sasuke's nerves, Sakura on the other hand seemed more willing to be critical of the world.

Maybe that was why.

Maybe she'd be able to see his world with all its flaws and not insist that everything would be fine, that things would get better.

And maybe that would be alright.

Or maybe he was thinking about this too much.

Sasuke turned and looked sharply at the floor as he realised that he had been staring as Sakura for a while now, and that she had been staring back.

"I remember," Sasuke said slowly, "one time when I left my house early to meet up with Naruto." He started walking on ahead and could hear Sakura's footsteps behind him as she followed.

It was strange, Sasuke reflected, how once he had started talking to her he didn't seem to want to stop. So he continued.

"We took a bus, we didn't even look at the number to see where we were going and left. We stayed out the whole day just to get away from everything, and we got home late in the evening," Sasuke smiled bitterly. "When I got home my father was furious, I had left a note saying that I'd be out all day but-" He shrugged slightly and by now he was walking faster and Sakura had to almost jog to keep up with him. "He said it wasn't good enough. That it was disgraceful and that I shouldn't have left like that, and all through that Itachi was just watching everything as if he was almost enjoying it."

"How old were you?" Sakura asked tentatively.

"Fifteen," Sasuke said and Sakura frowned "It wasn't even as if I didn't know what I was doing." He added.

"You and Naruto always stick together don't you?" Sakura said softly.

"Aren't you and Ino like that?" Sasuke asked and Sakura laughed slightly

"I guess so, you got me there." She said. Sasuke stopped abruptly and Sakura hesitated behind him. She thought back to when she and Ino had disappeared together for a few hours to meet up with some older boys. But even then her parents had been more relieved to find her safe than angry after that and they had made her promise to call them if she ever did that again.

"I hate him," Sasuke said suddenly, breaking the silence. There was a pause and all they could hear was the sound of birds and laughter in the distance.

"Your father?" Sakura asked, although she had a feeling she knew the answer to that question anyway.

"No, Itachi," Sasuke said firmly and she could hear the venom in his voice.

"Can I ask why?" Sakura said softly and Sasuke turned to look at her, a strange look in his eyes.

"Because all the time I get told that I should be more like my brother. That I do things that Itachi would never do like disappearing for a day, because I don't see the point in all this competitive business where people seem to sell each other out just to get a promotion." Sasuke clenched his fist and Sakura took a step towards him, worried that his fingernails would break the skin. "And because no matter what I do my father will always think that Itachi is a lot better than I am."

"Sasuke," Sakura said softly, reaching one hand out towards him.

"I'm not jealous of him," Sasuke said, "It's just-" He broke off suddenly.

"Frustrating?" Sakura suggested, her hand paused in midair.

"Something like that," He muttered.

Sakura moved so she stood in front of Sasuke and wrapped her arms around him, giving him the only comfort she could really offer him. She felt him move to hold her close, and they stood together like that for a few moments before Sakura felt Sasuke move to pull away and she let go of him.

"Do you want to head home?" She asked but Sasuke shook his head.

"No. You wanted to share this place with me so let's at least finish the walk." She nodded and threaded her arm through his as they skirted the rest of the lake; enjoying the silence and each others presence.


	4. Chapter 4

At a table in a busy restaurant four couples sit together enjoying a meal and some drinks, laughing and joking in each other's company. A pair of dark haired individuals sits next to each other, the young woman constantly teasing her husband's quiet, stoic nature as he sits protesting against her theatrical accusations of his indifference towards her as he watches the couple next to them with suspicion.

To the married couples left sit a dark haired girl who is laughing and blushing shyly as her blond haired companion showers her with attention with a wide smile on his face ignoring the hostile stares he is receiving from her cousin. He has a cheerful expression on his face and appears devoted to the girl with him, talking loudly about her many virtues as she tries to protest and keep him quiet him up in vain.

On their other side is a young woman with blonde hair, chatting animatedly to a man with dark hair who is sitting next to her with his head on his hands and a bored expression on his face which twists into a grimace as she begins to berate him for ignoring her.

The final couple consists of another dark haired young man and a girl with an unusual hair colour. They lack the familiarity of the other couples as if they haven't been together long and are still discovering new things about each other. The girl sits self consciously, half hidden by her hair, with her head bent down so she can study her hands while talking, acutely aware that her friends kept watching her interactions with her dark haired companion. He, on the other hand, seemed indifferent to the attention, something that Sakura dearly wished she could do.

"So Sasuke," Tenten said smiling and Neji took the opportunity, now her attention was diverted, to make it clear, once again, that he disapproved of Naruto's relationship with his cousin.

"So." Sasuke replied, looking at Tenten with a slight smile playing across his features.

"How are things in your life?" She asked and Sakura almost groaned and took a large gulp out of her glass of wine, hoping that it would make this conversation more bearable and Sasuke paused to pretend to give this question serious thought.

"Alright, how are things for you then?" He asked and Tenten shrugged.

"So-so, considering who I'm married to life's never going to be great is it? Things are all very serious in my household." She gave a sideways glance a Neji who hadn't heard as he focused on Naruto, making him look distinctly uneasy.

"I'm sure it has its moments." Sasuke said solemnly.

"I was thinking of having an affair." Tenten said, watching Neji for a reaction. By now she had gained Ino and Shikamaru's attention and they watched her thoughtfully. "You know, invite the milkman in when he's away working, that's well, if we had a milkman of course."

"There's always the postman," Sasuke replied and they all stared at Neji to see if there was any reaction. He continued looking at Naruto and Hinata.

"But seriously," Tenten said, "As I am a very nosy person, tell me about Sakura." Sasuke looked at the girl next to him before turning back to Tenten.

"I was under the impression that you knew her better than me, but if you must know she works as a doctor and-"

"I meant about you and her." Tenten said hastily cutting him off before he could go any further and Shikamaru smiled slightly as Sasuke thought.

"About me and Sakura. What's to say about that?" He said shrugging slightly and Tenten slumped down in her chair, hitting her head on the table.

"Are you always this difficult to talk to?" She groaned.

"Only in the evenings," Sasuke said with a straight face and Naruto laughed quietly to himself. Neji turned back round to see what had caught Naruto and Hinata's attention and was surprised to see his wife face down on the table. Sakura gave Sasuke a disapproving look and he gave her a sheepish smile.

"Tenten?" Neji said in some surprise. "How much have you had to drink?"

"Not enough." She muttered sitting back up again and taking a long drink from her glass of wine.

"Anyway," Sakura said, eager to divert the attention away from herself and Sasuke. "How's married life for you Tenten now the happy wedding glow has worn off?"

"It's good," Tenten said with a smile, "It means, now that I have every right to pry into Neji's private life." She laughed slightly before continuing, "Well, to be fair I imagine that it's not much different that Ino and Shikamaru living together. But it's funny, seeing Neji everyday as we never moved in together or anything as we couldn't really, but it's nice." She gave them a foolish smile, "I expect that that didn't make much sense."

"It made perfect sense," Naruto chipped in. "The Hyuuga's are a very old fashioned family and I can't imagine them letting you and Neji living together "in sin" so to speak. Besides anytime I see Hinata I feel I have to ask Neji or her Dad's permission if I want to see her or have any physical contact with her, that's how bad they are."

"And so you should," Neji said quietly, "We can't have you messing around with Hinata."

"Neji," Hinata protested, "I can look after myself." Neji gave her a look that clearly showed that he disagreed with that statement, and Hinata moved behind Naruto to avoid his gaze.

"At least you don't have a chaperone," Sasuke said and Ino laughed.

"Don't give them ideas," She said. "I can easily picture Neji following two steps behind them on a date," Shikamaru sighed.

"With all the money he's earned he might as well pay someone to follow them, it'll be easier." He muttered.

"Look what you've started," Sakura whispered to Sasuke.

"I didn't think they'd take it seriously," He replied and she smiled suddenly at him.

"What?" Sasuke asked, looking puzzled.

"It's nothing, I was just thinking." Sakura said looking away from him, her cheeks turning pink. She glanced at him and felt herself turning even redder as he was still watching her attentively.

"Thinking of what?" He persisted.

Of how happy he seemed. She couldn't say that, so Sakura shrugged slightly and continued avoiding Sasuke's questions with a playful smile on her face.

Naruto, too, had noticed how relaxed and content Sasuke seemed and he was glad for his friend to have found happiness with Sakura, he definitely deserved it. He smiled briefly as he watched Sakura teasing Sasuke, she was now holding his hand and giggling slightly as he gave her a flat look.

Naruto's gaze travelled to the rest of his friends, Ino was watching the couple with a tender smile on her face as Shikamaru sat back in his chair with his eyes shut. Tenten and Neji were deep in discussion about something, it sounded work related and Naruto rolled his eyes, did Neji ever stop thinking about work, he wondered how Tenten put up with him all the time.

He turned to Hinata beside him and she caught his eye and smiled. A smile that he gladly returned. He slid his hand into Hinata's under the table but it didn't escape his notice that Neji momentarily narrowed his eyes at them. Did Neji see every action he made towards Hinata? It was almost like the guy could see through walls, or in this case the table.

They sat quietly together as Naruto began to understand to comforts of spending time with someone in comfortable silence. Especially as Hinata had a habit of getting embarrassed and shy during their conversations, especially when Naruto accidently turned it into something crude.

Sasuke would be proud of him though, as his noise level was something that constantly annoyed his friend who was much quieter by nature. Sasuke had even threatened him with duct tape on the odd occasion, something the Naruto knew he would have no qualms following through.

Ino watched Sakura as she talked to Sasuke, radiating happiness. She shook her head slightly amused that Sakura had found contentment with the man they used to watch and whisper about in the coffee shop.

She hoped for her friend's sake that it would last. Sakura wasn't usually one for dating really, but when she met someone she liked she tended to fall for them completely, and Ino didn't want Sasuke to break Sakura's heart or there would be hell to pay.

She could easily see them living in, well not exactly domestic bliss, more like the insane arguments she held with Shikamaru that she seemed to be the one that did all the washing and the hovering and so on. It was probably something that Tenten and Neji had problems with as well. Although she couldn't really ask them, Neji would deny everything and insist that they never argued and Tenten, who seemed to grow more theatrical in her married life, would insist that they had terrible rows but say it while smiling all the time and teasing Neji. Although Ino could easily imaging Tenten screaming and threatening Neji with a vacuum cleaner.

Then again, if she voiced her thoughts, that Sakura and Sasuke could have a long term relationship, Shikamaru would probably accuse her of letting her imagination run wild. But so what, she only wanted her friend to be happy there was nothing wrong with that.

Ino looked at Sasuke again, who suddenly winced and frowned at Naruto who appeared to have kicked him under the table. Naruto signalled at Sasuke who turned round slightly in his chair.

Sasuke looked at the dark haired couple who had just entered the restaurant and muttered a curse under his breath, he glanced at Naruto who shrugged slightly.

Sasuke sat with his head in his hands and sighed. Luckily Sakura was talking to Neji and Tenten and hadn't noticed anything, he caught Ino's eye and smiled briefly at her as she was looking in his direction. However, Ino noticed that it had seemed forced.

Sakura laughed softly as Tenten had moved into what seemed to be her favourite past time, teasing Neji. She saw out of the corner of her eye an older couple that looked familiar to her, after watching them a few moments longer she realised that it was Sasuke's parents. She turned to look at him and saw that he was determinedly not looking in their direction and was obviously aware that they were there. Sakura watched as both his dad and mum looked in the direction of their table. His dad frowned and started to walk over to the table with his wife following close behind, a concerned expression on her face.

Sakura gently nudged Sasuke to get his attention and he looked at her sharply.

"I thought you might like to know, you've just been recognised," He nodded slightly in response and she gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Hello Sasuke." They all turned to look at Sasuke's parents, especially his dad, who had spoken and looked like an imposing figure behind them.

"Hello," Sasuke replied stiffly.

"What are you doing here?" He asked and Sasuke stubbornly stayed silent.

"We're just all out for a meal," Naruto said cheerfully, even if his good spirits did sound slightly forced. It was obvious that he was trying to break the sudden tension that had descended onto the party.

"Really," He said and looked at Naruto with some suspicion until Sasuke cut in.

"He's not lying," Sasuke said quietly, "it's not like he's got a reason to anyway." His father narrowed his eyes at him and Sasuke looked back at him with a hostile expression on his face. Sakura glanced at Naruto who was looking slightly nervous, although everyone else seemed to have a curious expression on their face.

"Anyway we should get going," Sasuke's mother exclaimed brightly, "We're spoiling your fun, but it was an amazing coincidence, wasn't it dear?" She added in a menacing way to her husband. She gave them all a warm smile and slipped her arms through her husband's, "Come on." She said cheerfully but there was still a thinly veiled threat in her words. An unsaid "or else" and it seemed as if her husband was reluctant to find out what she would do to him if he didn't listen so he followed her as she cheerfully said goodbye to them all.

"Your Dad still scares the crap out of me Sasuke." Naruto said and then laughed nervously to try and make his comment seem less serious.

Sakura looked at Sasuke with some concern, his hand was clenched to tight as it rested rigidly on the table and the knuckles had gone white. She gently covered his hand with her own and gave him a weak smile when he looked at her. His expression was carefully blank which only made Sakura worry more as she didn't know what was going through his mind at the time.

Across the table Naruto and Hinata watched Sasuke, Hinata was holding Naruto's hand under the table as she noticed that he was bothered by the sudden appearance of Sasuke's family.

She looked at both Sasuke and Naruto with curiosity, wondering where all the sudden tension had come from. Hinata knew from her experiences with her family that things got competitive and tense between people when something significant in their business came up but she had never experienced such a feeling of unease between her own relatives. She saw that Naruto looked worried for his friend and gazed down at her glass of wine, feeling helpless as she knew that she couldn't do anything to help him.

Ino was also watching Sasuke, she saw how his hostile expression vanished when he turned to look at Sakura and she took it as a good sign. But there was still a burning curiosity as to what had just happened it seemed as if Sasuke's dad wasn't exactly the doting father with his youngest son and she wondered what had happened between them. His mum, however, seemed to have the overly cheerful air that Naruto often projected as if she could make up for her husbands rudeness by overcompensating herself.

Shikamaru watched Ino's face as different expressions flashed across her features, he had also noticed the strange behaviour then, he'd have to be stupid not to, and it seemed that it was situations like these that the expression about cutting the tension in the air with a knife came from.

However it wasn't his job, or nature to pry in other people's business, besides he didn't even know Sasuke that well. Although he could see on Ino's face that she meant to get involved and that only meant more trouble for him. Annoying girl.

Tenten exchanged a glance with Neji, who shrugged in response; he didn't have a clue what that was about either. She finished the rest of her wine and attempted to shake everyone out of their unease.

"Well, that was fantastic," She said brightly. "And as much as I'd love to order another bottle, I have to be off with Neji as guess what, he's volunteered to go to a meeting at work! On a Saturday. I thought I'd cured him of that by now but then again he always was a strange one." She smiled at the group.

"You're doing extra work Neji," Naruto sounded disgusted, "Why are you doing that?"

"We're introducing a new product and I have to sort some problems out," Neji replied stiffly, still annoyed the Naruto was sitting so close to Hinata.

"Sounds complicated," Shikamaru commented and Neji gave a slight nod. Tenten gave them all a quick hug and ended up giggling in Sakura's ear and she told her to have fun with Sasuke.

"Tenten, how much have you drunk?" Sakura asked, although she had drunk the better half of a bottle herself.

"Not enough," She replied, "But the night is young don't let our leaving ruin the party. It's just us boring married people that have to retire early." Neji took her arm and began escorting her out the restaurant.

"At least Neji's sober," Ino commented and Naruto scowled.

"That because he spent most of the evening glaring at me and not drinking anything," He muttered and Hinata giggled. The wine had gone straight to her head getting rid of her usual shyness and without the watchful eye of her cousin to stop her she stood up and pulled Naruto to his feet.

"Come on then," She said softly, a faint blush on her face. "Lets go somewhere private so no one can glare at you." Naruto stared at her, open mouthed as she tugged on his arm to take him out of the restaurant.

"Wow," Ino said, "I didn't see that coming." Sakura shook her head.

"I almost feel sorry for Naruto," She said. "He didn't know what hit him then."

"I don't," Sasuke muttered and Sakura elbowed him in the ribs, shooting him a look that clearly said 'behave'.

"Aw, it's boring now Tenten and Hinata have left," Ino said.

"Well, I'm sorry we're not more stimulating company," Sasuke said and Ino gave him an exasperated look.

"It was only fun as they'd had so much to drink, and by that I mean mostly Tenten." She gave Sasuke a sly smile and handed him a glass of wine that was full to the brim, "Drink this for me." He gave her a sceptical look and drank the contents of the glass in one go before smiling at her.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to get me drunk," He and Ino stared at him.

"You've had a few glasses of wine even before that and you're fine? No slurring or, I don't know, strange behaviour?" Sasuke shrugged.

"I have a very high tolerance to alcohol," He said and Ino looked curiously at him.

"Really?"

"Really, and no we're not testing that. I've had enough of Naruto trying to get me drunk, and things were bad enough then." Ino sighed in disappointment.

"Shame." She turned to smile at Shikamaru leaving Sasuke alone for a few moments as Sakura looked at him with a curious expression on her face.

"What?" He asked.

"What happened when Naruto tried to get you drunk then?" She asked and Sasuke looked at the table, a slight blush on his face as he avoided eye contact out of embarrassment.

"Nothing," He said awkwardly trying to avoid the question.

"Some how I don't believe you," Sakura said mildly.

"Can I just say that we were quite young and my parents have never forgiven me for it, or let me forget it," Sasuke said. "And let's leave it at that," Sakura looked thoughtful.

"At Tenten's wedding your mum said that you and Naruto did something shocking," She said slowly "was that it?"

"Yes," Sasuke sighed.

"It can't have been that bad," This time Sasuke turned to meet her eye.

"That doesn't matter. My dad has a habit of over reacting and besides, it's not the kind of behaviour that people expect from my family which is further proof that Naruto is a corrupting influence apparently."

She smiled at him before reaching a decision. Sasuke had become quieter after his parents sudden appearance and his words had become more ridged as if he was forcing himself to act normally and she saw only one way to get him back to his sort-of-cheerful self.

"Come on Sasuke, we need to get going," He looked at her surprised at her comment.

"We do?"

"Yes, I want to take you somewhere," Sakura said giggling slightly at his bewildered expression, avoiding Ino's eyes in case the girl was going to start turning something innocent into something completely different and totally rude.

"Alright," Sasuke got to his feet and they said their goodbyes to Ino and Shikamaru.

"Hang on," Ino said, pulling Shikamaru to his feet, "I refuse to stay there on my own."

"Because I don't count apparently," Shikamaru added and Ino glared at him.

"So let's go, and don't worry I won't follow you," She said.

"And I won't let her. So you can really don't have to worry," Shikamaru said and Ino hit him.

"I wasn't going to anyway," She insisted and Shikamaru put his arm around her shoulders.

"Of course you weren't, you never meddle in other people's affairs, but lets just make sure shall we." He began pulling her across the street in the direction of their car, pausing to give Sasuke and Sakura a slight wave with Ino still arguing with him.

Sasuke looked across at Sakura who was watching her friend fondly as she was being towed along by her long term boyfriend. It was strange, no one thought those two would end up together of that the relationship would last that long. They seemed too ill suited for each other and when they had started dating they had split up with each other within a week and this happened several times before they seemed to agree to disagree and since then had stayed together more or less happily.

"Where did you want to go?" Sasuke asked and she turned her attention to him.

"Take me home, please?" She asked and Sasuke nodded, turning in the direction of her house they walked the streets together.

It was still light and the warmer weather was coming in now Sakura had known Sasuke a for while and although they had never had a stormy relationship like Ino and Shikamaru she wondered if there was any future in it. She supposed she'd have to wait and see.

"Hey," Sakura protested after she noticed that Sasuke was walking ahead of her. "You're walking too fast."

"No you've slowed down," He said and Sakura scowled at him.

"You could have waited."

"If you weren't spacing out then I wouldn't have had to," He said firmly and Sakura sighed.

"You are impossible," She muttered and Sasuke smirked.

"Thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment," Sasuke stayed silent and continued walking and Sakura found herself glaring at the back of his head. "What, no come back?" She said loudly.

"You're going to get left behind again," He said simply without turning round.

They shortly reached Sakura house and she dragged him into the living room.

"Do you want anything?" She asked "Any drink? Food? Oh, I just found some ice cream." She added brightly and Sasuke stared at her as she came out of the kitchen with a tub in her hands. She sat down next to him and pulled the lid off with some difficulty, she noticed that Sasuke was still staring at her in disbelief.

"What?" She asked.

"Ice cream?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"We just ate at the restaurant," He said and Sakura shrugged. He continued giving her a strange look without saying anything else. Sakura shrugged and scooped some of the ice cream in her mouth.

"How much have you had to drink Sakura?" Sasuke asked carefully and Sakura shrugged again.

"Not sure," She said round her spoon. She dug out some more ice cream and offered it to Sasuke who pulled a face at it.

"I don't really like sweet things."

"Does that mean you don't like me?" Sakura asked a teasing smile on her face, the ice cream still in her hand, "Or that you don't think I'm sweet?"

Sasuke looked at her for a while, a thoughtful but embarrassed look on his face. He put the ice cream spoon back in the tub and leaned forward wrapping his arms around her, pulling her towards him.

"I think I can make an exception in your case," He said kissing her on the forehead. Sakura found herself smiling again as she slipped her arms around him and hugged him back.

"You can be really sweet sometime you know that?" Sasuke snorted.

"Yeah right."

"I'm serious," Sakura insisted smiling at him and he gave her a small smile in return which died instantly when she stuck and ice cream laden spoon in front of his face.

"No," Sasuke said firmly and Sakura gave him a sad look. "That's not going to work."

"Oh well," Sakura said eating the ice cream herself as Sasuke looked at her in disbelief.

"You are very strange," He said finally and she smiled at him. "I should get going," He muttered and Sakura looked up from her ice cream.

"What? Sasuke please don't," She said and he gave her a tired smile.

"It's getting late Sakura," He said gently. "Besides I'll leave you to your ice cream, enjoy it."

"It won't be the same with out you to tease," Sakura said putting the lid of firmly. She seemed finished and Sasuke looked at her perplexed.

"What was the point in getting it out?"

"Because it tastes nice," Sakura said absentmindedly as Sasuke wondered whether the night out with her friends had taken what little sanity she had left. The wine had certainly made her more…eccentric than usual.

"Good night Sakura," He said kissing her softly. She giggled slightly, confirming Sasuke's suspicions that she had drunk more than her fair share on wine that evening.

"Night Sasuke," She said and watched him leave and locked the front door.

Sakura ambled over to her bedroom and fell flat, face down on her bed with a groan.

"I'm definitely going to regret drinking that much tomorrow," She said her voice muffled by the duvet. She rolled over onto her back and smiled up at the ceiling, "But it was fun."


	5. Chapter 5

The days past slowly and, although the sun shone brightly wishing happiness on those beneath it, Sakura spent her most of her days in a day dream. And she seemed completely unaware that the summer months were finally here.

The weeks of almost constant sunshine brought much joy amongst the children down Sakura's street as it signified the end of school soon, amongst teenagers who were looking for a summer romance and amongst her co-workers as it meant that most people were going away on holiday and leaving them alone.

Sakura now seemed to spend her days with Sasuke or thinking about him. There was an invisible line that showed the border between liking someone and obsession and Sakura was almost ready to cross it.

Besides she was just concerned about him that was all, that's what she always told herself when she realised she had been sitting with a silly smile on her face for more than a few seconds.

Although she had never told anyone what Naruto had revealed to her it also meant that no one could understand why she worried about Sasuke so much. So they all thought she had fallen for him completely, head over heels in love, like a spaniel moping about when it's owner had left the house. The phrases they used to describe her mooning over him were endless.

It didn't help that when she met up with her friends they asked about him, that Hinata knew him because of their families businesses and that Temari and Tsunade's new favourite past time was trying to get Sakura as flustered as possible by asking her continuous questions about Sasuke. And that was why it hurt her when they had recently accused her of being obsessed with him from the start, when he was just known as the mysterious man in the coffee shop she frequented.

"You'd think actually knowing him would have taken away some of the charm," Tsunade said to Temari one time but the other girl just shrugged.

"He must be really special," She said and Tsunade looked sceptical.

She knew she had more in common with Temari than Sakura. They had both suffered many broken hearts and Tsunade now had a rather cynical outlook on life because of it, especially when it came to romance.

Temari also didn't have much of a romantic outlook in life, she didn't really believe in happily ever after, but it didn't stop her from searching for it of trying to believe that it existed.

But even so Temari and Tsunade always got on well, they had a similar outlook on life and both shared a concern for Sakura who they regarded as a liability of sorts.

Unlike them, Sakura was a romantic an, to them, this meant that she needed protecting.

It was strange that most of her friends seemed to have an overwhelming desire to keep Sakura safe from harm. They had heard Sakura recounting the story of how Ino threatened Sasuke one time and laughed nervously knowing full well that they would have done the same thing given the chance.

Although they have never even got to meet Mr. Perfect yet. They realised from all Sakura's irritating humming and all the smiles and sighs that she was in trouble, and there was nothing they could do to help her. It was a long term disease, something that bed rest and ice cream couldn't easily get rid of. The cure was most likely months of moping and the better half of a bottle of wine every few days. And Sakura had caught it.

She was in love.

And it had only been a few months, was that long enough?

They only hoped that he loved her back.

"Good afternoon," Sakura said cheerfully as she wandered back into work. Temari looked at her bleary eyed from behind the desk.

"What's got you so perky at this ridiculous hour?" She demanded and Sakura looked thoughtful as she walked round the reception desk.

"I just woke up in a good mood," She said pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"Why? Was Sasuke next to you?" Temari asked, causing Sakura's hand to jerk, spilling coffee onto the table.

"Temari," She protested, her face crimson. "How could you- we haven't-" She took a deep breath to calm herself down and glared at Temari who was watching her with some amusement. "Just no okay," She finished and Temari laughed as Sakura cleared up the pool of coffee.

Sakura left, heading to her office with a mug of coffee in her hand in order to briefly sort her things out before they opened and Tsunade emerged from her untidy office to see Temari still grinning to herself.

"What is it?" She asked.

"I managed to get Sakura flustered that's all," Temari replied and Tsunade nodded, pouring herself some coffee.

"What do you think?" She asked and Temari looked up confused, "of Sasuke." Tsunade clarified and Temari shrugged.

"I couldn't say, I've never met him, she seems happy enough though." Temari said but she didn't sound too happy.

It was an old conversation between the two and so far they hadn't found a way to make themselves feel that comfortable about Sakura's new relationship. It didn't help that lately Sakura had seemed so cheerful herself it just made them feel much more cynical. Tsunade nodded slightly at her reply.

"But-" She started and then they heard a click as Sakura came out of her office and Temari and Tsunade looked up at her over their coffee's suddenly falling silent as if they were discussing things they didn't want her to hear.

"Is something wrong?" Sakura asked and Temari shook her head Tsunade, however, just said;

"Yes." And Temari flinched slightly at Tsunade's blunt manner wanting to avoid a confrontation with Sakura.

"Well what is it?" Sakura asked and Tsunade sighed slightly.

"Sakura sit down," She did so nervously, wondering why her boss was looking so serious for a change. "We can't help being concerned about you Sakura," Tsunade started hesitantly. "And I suppose the one thing we want to know most all. Do you love Sasuke?" Sakura stared at them, her face steadily turning red.

"I don't know," She said in a voice that was much higher than her usual tone. "I've never really thought about it." Temari sighed and both Tsunade and Sakura turned to look at her, she stepped forward and crouched down so she could look Sakura in the eyes.

"Do you think he can make you happy Sakura. That's all we want to know, we don't want you to have your heart broken." Sakura smiled as her friends gave her such worried expressions.

"Everyone's always so concerned," She said, "but no one seems to have stopped to think whether I'm the one who can make Sasuke happy. But yes, I am so very happy with Sasuke and if we do break up then, yes, I'll be upset but at least I would have enjoyed the time we spent together." She looked at her two friends. "Does that make you feel better?" Temari nodded and straightened up.

"You are too nice Sakura," She said and Tsunade nodded.

"You should still be careful." The older woman commented and Sakura gave her a reassuring smile.

"I will. Can I go do some work now?" She headed into her small office and sat down as Temari unlocked the door and a few patients filed in, when Temari sat down again Tsunade looked at her.

"Sakura's in trouble isn't she," Tsunade said.

"Only if they break up," Temari said. "Maybe we should just wait and if it all goes wrong we can help her pick up the pieces."

"I still don't like it," Tsunade said, "but that has made me wonder."

"Wonder what?" Temari asked sending Sakura's first patient in.

"Whether she's made him happy," Temari laughed slightly.

"Of course she has. Sakura's generally a little ray of sunshine isn't she? He'd have to be crazy to lose her." Tsunade smiled.

"You're right, you can start sending in any patients of mine now." She added before heading off to her own room and Temari nodded thoughtfully, at least today wouldn't be too busy. She could see that they had a slow afternoon ahead of them but that just meant that they had more time to talk.

"You can go through Mrs Arashino, it's the second door on the left." She called and sat back in her chair thoughtfully. She defiantly hoped for Sakura's sake that her relationship would work out, and then maybe there would be hope for the rest of them.

Sakura gave her next patient a smile as they entered the room.

She had always felt that her job was worthwhile and had dreamed of being a doctor since she was young and had fallen over cracking her head open. She had needed to take the rest of the day off school and spend it in casualty instead getting stitches.

Ino of course, being the good friend she was, insisted on accompanying Sakura to make sure she was alright. And the day off school had nothing to do with her decision at all. Sakura had found the bustle of the hospital strangely appealing. When Ino had just complained about the noise and the crowds, Sakura had seen how nurses and doctors came and went helping people and setting them on the road to recovery and she had been immediately interested.

She had worked hard over the years and eventually got on a course for medicine after university and although she had done some work at a hospital she had settled in Tsunade's practice as it had a comfortable feel to it and she had felt that she never wanted to leave.

She seemed to be the youngest of their group, instantly making the other two want to protect her as Tsunade's motherly instincts came out as she constantly looked out for the well being of her new and youngest doctor. Even Temari who was only a few years older than Sakura looked out for her and they had become her close friends even if they were a little over protective.

At the end of the day Sakura stood with Temari and Tsunade as they talked over a cup of coffee as there were no more patients, despite this their eyes kept wandering to the clock in the waiting room to see how long they had until they could close up and leave. Temari finished tidying up the papers at the reception desk and stretched.

"It wasn't too bad today was it?" She said and Sakura nodded in agreement. Tsunade was walking round the waiting room sipping her coffee and straightening the magazines they had out, she looked out the windows and groaned.

"There's someone outside," She said and Temari looked up from her desk.

"Are they going to come in?" She glanced nervously at the clock and saw that they still had a few minutes of being open left.

"I'm not sure," Tsunade replied and Temari walked round to the window so she could look out.

"Well I wouldn't mind if he did," Temari said as the man outside turned round so they could see his face.

"What are you two up to?" Sakura asked after putting her mug away in the dishwasher, when she didn't get a reply she wandered over to the window to try and see what had captured their attention. "What are you looking at?" She asked and Temari moved so she could see out the window.

"Some guy," Temari said with a shrug.

"We're hoping he doesn't want to come in for anything," Tsunade added and Sakura moved up to the window to look out herself.

"It's Sasuke," Sakura said with a broad smile on her face, "I thought he'd still be at work." Tsunade and Temari exchanged a look when they saw how Sakura's face had light up at the sight of him.

"That's Sasuke?" Temari asked, "No wonder you're obsessed, he's gorgeous."

"I am not obsessed," Sakura said indignantly.

"Please, no guy you've ever dated before has made you hum before. Which is very irritating by the way." Tsunade said and Sakura looked sheepish.

"Sorry I didn't realise I was doing it," She said apologetically.

"Well?" Temari asked.

"Well what?" Sakura said, although she suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Are you going to introduce us?" Tsunade asked and Sakura looked stunned and said nothing.

"I think she's ashamed of us," Temari said after a few moments of silence.

"Probably," Tsunade agreed and Sakura shook her head.

"You're not going to scare him off are you?" She asked nervously.

"Please, if we manage to scare him off then he obviously isn't good enough for you." Temari said, "and besides, I'm sure the guy can put up with it, it's not like he's made of glass or anything." There was a pause, "is he?" Sakura laughed and shook her head.

"Okay but be nice," She warned the other two giving them a stern look.

"Right time to lock up," Tsunade said and began ushering them out the door, they had just enough time to grab their bags before she pushed them past reception. "I refuse to do anymore work," Tsunade locked the doors behind her and she saw Sakura walk up to Sasuke with a small smile on her face.

"I thought you'd still be at work now?" She said softly and he shrugged slightly.

"I came in early so it's fine, I've done all my hours."

"If you're sure, I don't want you getting into trouble." She said sternly and he gave her a half smile.

"Sakura its fine," He said again. "But if you're just trying to get rid of me then I can go if you want."

"No, it's not that," Sakura said hastily and Tsunade suppressed a smile at Sakura's flustered expression. Sasuke raised one eyebrow and gave her a quizzical expression.

"Then you're not trying to get rid of me?" Sakura smiled at him.

"No. I'm glad to see you, it's been a while and I heard some stuff from Hinata. She seems to get phone calls from Naruto every night and she says that he's been whining about all the extra work you've all been getting recently."

"Hinata would never say that Naruto whines," Sasuke said flatly and Sakura shrugged.

"No that's just how I interpreted it," Sasuke smiled and looked back at Temari and Tsunade who were watching his exchange with Sakura, their eyes narrowed.

"Oh god," He muttered.

"What?" Sakura asked and turned round in case they had somehow got their hands on any large pointy objects.

"How many of your friends would happily murder me if I did anything wrong?" He asked and Sakura laughed nervously.

"You might be alright with Hinata," She suggested.

"So no pressure then," Sasuke muttered and he frowned slightly. Sakura gave him a reassuring smile which he attempted to return.

He heard Sakura call her friends over as he thought back over the past weeks he had spent at work. Due to Itachi's thinly veiled threat he had made sure that he was up to date with all of his work and was even ahead in some areas he couldn't see any reason for his family to step in and try and interfere with his relationship with Sakura.

Hell, his mother even seemed to like the idea, he only faced his father's disapproval really. If anyone would blame Sakura on his lack of commitment to the business then it would be him.

Itachi on the other hand posed a different threat, he kept hinting at something and Sasuke didn't like it and there was that time when Itachi had invited Sakura into the building and up to his office, Itachi was up to something and Sasuke didn't like it.

"Sasuke are you alright?" Sakura asked and Sasuke was jerked out of his thoughts and realised that Sakura was waving her hand in front of his face.

"Yeah, sorry." He ran his hand over his face and gave her a small smile as Sakura looked at him with concern.

"Sasuke you look tired, how early did you actually get in to work this morning?" Sakura asked as Temari and Tsunade looked on in disbelief, they never would have though Sakura would be this sharp with him.

"Uh-" Sasuke started.

"Have you even eaten anything today?" She continued ignoring him.

"Sort of," Sasuke muttered and when Sakura made to say something else he interrupted her. "And you are?" He asked Temari and Tsunade who now looked vaguely amused. They introduced themselves and Sakura stood and glared at Sasuke as he talked to Temari and Tsunade. They said their goodbyes and Sakura looked at Sasuke who was staring at the floor deep in thought a small frown on his face.

"Do you want to go somewhere?" She asked and he nodded, they fell silent after that and Sakura presume that she'd choose a place to go to then. "Let's just go for a walk then," She said and took his arm. She tugged Sasuke away from Tsunade's practise heading in no particular direction.

They walked in silence until Sakura nervously tried to break it by talking about anything that came into her head, trying to dispel the uneasiness she felt, usually Sakura felt at ease with Sasuke when they were quiet. He wasn't always that talkative but this time she felt worried as Sasuke seemed troubled about something himself.

Sasuke followed Sakura as she led them through the street of the city deep in thought. Although Sakura didn't realise it what she had said that had given him reason to pause. He knew all her friends were very protective of her and that he would in big trouble if his relationship with her went bad.

However on the other hand he had no desire to upset Sakura or see any harm come to her which left one concern; what the hell was Itachi up to? It worried him a lot but he knew that he would take the path that meant that Sakura got less hurt whatever happened and whatever that meant for himself.

Sasuke realised that Sakura was trying to make conversation now and it was likely that he had ignored her last questions as she suddenly gave an exasperated sigh.

"I can't help worrying about you Sasuke," She said softly and Sasuke watched her out of the corner of his eye. "Are you sure you're alright, you're a lot quieter than usual."

"Yes," Sasuke said and Sakura smiled at him, please to get a response at last.

"I'm glad," They fell silent again as Sakura searched for something else to say. "How's Naruto?"

"The same." More silence. Sakura frowned.

"Ino was saying that she's hoping Shikamaru with propose to her soon, preferably on her birthday but that's a long way off. Although personally I doubt Shikamaru will get round to it. If they ever get married it would be because Ino made him propose or if she proposed herself"

"Mmm."

"Shikamaru seems content with them just living together though."

There was more silence and Sakura rolled her eyes, this was more frustrating than the first conversation they had, why did he come and find her if he didn't seem to want her company. Sakura stopped walking and Sasuke did as well, stopping only a few paces behind her.

"Sasuke what are we doing?" Sakura asked suddenly, she paused for a moment but Sasuke stayed silent still. "Why did you come here when you clearly don't want to talk to me? Why do we never talk about the things that matter? You know so much about me but I only know little things about you and most of that is what Naruto told me from both of yours childhood. I used to be alright with it but now all of my friends are asking me whether I can see our relationship going anywhere, and I really don't know anymore"

There was silence and Sasuke paused as he could hear Sakura trying her hardest not to cry. "I really care about you Sasuke," She continued, "but I don't want to stay in a relationship which will only end up with me broken hearted." The silence was longer this time, broken only by a few stifled sobs that Sakura couldn't prevent, finally, after what seemed like an age Sakura took a step forward to leave when Sasuke spoke.

"I'm not breaking up with you," He said and Sakura froze. "And what do you want to know about me anyway? My life is not that great, it's really depressing when you have to admit that Naruto of all people is probably one of the best things in my life.

"I've grown up being told by my father that Itachi is always better than me no matter what I do, you know that. I've avoided people most of my life because most of them assume that by being an Uchiha I have a perfect life. Naruto's the only person who doesn't care but because of all this he's probably got a fucked up idea of what family life is so God knows what he'll try to do to his own children." Sakura had turned so she was now facing him but Sasuke was now looking determinedly at the pavement. "And what makes it even worse it that I work for my family's company, I wasn't even given a choice, it was just presumed that I'd do it just like everybody else has, especially my perfect brother." The last part was said with such venom that Sakura was taken aback.

"Sasuke." She said softly and walked towards him, she wrapped her arms around him and he stood stiffly in her embrace as she tried to offer him some comfort, however small.

Sakura thought of growing up the times she had spent with her parents, with Ino and her parents seeming like a second family and all the friends she had made over the years.

There had been arguments, disagreements over the stupidest things but she knew she was lucky, she always had been.

She pulled away from him and offered him a small smile as he looked at her with a blank expression on his face.

"Thank you," He said and Sakura looked at him quizzically.

"For what?" She asked.

"You listened," He said, "and you didn't leave." Sakura smiled at Sasuke again before taking his hand.

"Shall we go?" He nodded and they fell silent again but this time it was a comfortable one, Sakura squeezed Sasuke's hand slightly as he began lagging behind her which seemed to have the desired effect as in a few long strides Sasuke was now walking level with her.

"Sasuke," Sakura said breaking the silence again. "Thank you for telling me, for feeling that you can confide in me." She said and Sasuke nodded. Sakura frowned, was he back to not talking to her again? "Sasuke?" She asked but there was only more silence, she knew she had his attention as he was looking at her but it was still irritating.

Sakura ran a hand through her windswept hair in an exasperated gesture. Great after one breakthrough he'd decided not to speak to her again.

"If there's anything," She hesitated. "Anything at all that I can do for you, you know you just need to ask right?" He didn't say anything but Sakura smiled slightly as she knew that despite Sasuke's lack of response that he heard what she had to say and that maybe she could make him happy.

"Just keep being you." Sasuke said after a long silence and Sakura gave him a puzzled look but nodded and this time he squeezed her had to offer her reassurance to remind her that she was walking too slowly and that he wasn't going to drag her anywhere.

"Right," Sakura said pulling Sasuke closer to her as they walked down the street. "I bet you haven't eaten anything all day, and I am hungry. Let's go find some place to eat."

Sasuke smiled to himself as he let Sakura drag him towards the part of town where all the restaurants were. Whatever made her happy. And anyway, now she mentioned it, he was kind of hungry himself.


	6. Chapter 6

Sakura was smiling to herself as she applied her make-up. She was looking forward to her evening out with Sasuke. There was no way she could deny that. But it irked her that, although her friends were no longer taking pains to warn her off Sasuke and the dangers of meeting strangers, no matter how many of her other friends knew him, now they were accusing her of being obsessed with him instead. She certainly liked Sasuke, she liked him a lot. She couldn't deny that, but calling her obsessed was a bit unfair, especially after what some of them had been like with their boyfriends at some point.

Ino had spent weeks moaning about Shikamaru and when they pointed out to her that if he annoyed her that much then maybe they should break up. Ino spluttered a protest before she went all pink and giggly and then she started talking about all his good points. How caring he could be, and they had to suffer that several times a week before she was able to calm down and think fairly rationally again.

Tenten had spent ages agonising over how bad the first impression she had made on Neji had been and that she was now doomed in her job, but she still managed to say how attractive Neji was, much to Hinata's horror. She was convinced that Neji would get her kicked out of the company on her arse and practically spent any time when she was in the same part of the company with him in a cold sweat as he spent his time staring at her.

When Neji had finally worked up the nerve to ask her out, as that's what he had been doing when he was staring at her, trying to think of a way to get on her good side and not working out a way to get her fired for incompetence as she first thought. Tenten was completely giddy and hysterical when he had finally asked her for a date and she made them all help her choose what to wear. And afterwards had gone through every detail of their date asking them all what it could mean or what it could lead too.

So compared to her friends Sakura felt a lot more restrained with her behaviour towards Sasuke and a lot less neurotic than they could be. The only thing they could accuse her of really was that they spent much of their time together.

Besides the only person who should be able to criticise her was Hinata anyway who still went tomato red when even saying that she had been on a date with Naruto, and whenever his name came up in conversation she talked about him calmly and refused to go into detail about anything in case it jinxed their relationship.

Sakura slipped on her shoes and looked at her watch. Sasuke was supposed to be picking her up for dinner but she was ready early, probably being too keen to see him. So she walked into her small living room-cum-kitchen and wandered around it, straightening the odd item and making sure she wouldn't fall over in her heels before sitting down. She didn't want to stay in the hall way and give the impression that she was waiting for him. Even if she was, he didn't have to know that.

A few moments passed before Sasuke rang the doorbell at the exact time he had promised to pick her up. He had always been punctual.

Sakura waited for a few seconds before she walked to the door and opened it with a smile. Sasuke returned it with an awkward one of his own as she grabbed her bag before practically bounding after Sasuke down the short flight of steps onto the street after locking up her house.

He silently led her to his car and Sakura paused slightly, she had always seen him walking to places so it seemed strange to see him sitting in a car, especially in the driving seat. He gave her a puzzled look before she shook herself out of her reverie and slipped into the car next to him.

"So where are you taking me?" She asked, wondering why he had told her to dress up for the occasion, he looked at her with some amusement.

"It's a surprise", He said tonelessly and watched out of the corner of his eye as Sakura's face turned into a frown.

"You never tell me where we're going," She protested. "Why not surprise me once by actually telling me for a change?" Sasuke shook his head slightly as she glared at him. "Fine," She muttered and instead or trying to glare a hole in his head she took to looking out of the window to try and figure out their destination. She got lost after a couple of turns and sighed as she realised that Sasuke was talking her to a part of town she wasn't familiar with.

She watched the world go by out the window and was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice Sasuke turn off the road and switch the engine off. He looked at her for a while before shifting slightly to take her hand. Sakura jumped at the sudden, unexpected contact but did her best to hide it although as she turned to face Sasuke and saw him smiling at her she realised that knew he had startled her.

"We're here," He said simply before taking his hand away from hers. Sakura frowned and looked at the hand on her lap feeling strange at the sudden loss of warmth. "Are you coming?" Sasuke asked opening the door for her after she had spent a few moments sitting in the car and staring at her hand.

"Ah, yes, sorry," Sakura said getting out the car feeling slightly embarrassed. She took in her surroundings as Sasuke locked the car and gaze fell on a fancy looking restaurant. She looked up and down the street and realised that it was the only restaurant in the area and that it was probably the place that Sasuke intended to take her to.

"Here?" She asked feeling slightly stupid, where else would they be going the bingo hall down the street? Sasuke nodded at her he just looked mildly amused. "Sasuke, you can't take me here it looks too expensive," Sakura protested, twisting her hands together awkwardly and she realised that Sasuke was, once again, getting some amusement out of her discomfort.

"Its fine," He said walking towards the entrance, knowing that, without glancing behind him, Sakura was following him despite her unease at being taken to such a fancy restaurant. Despite her dress she still felt far too underdressed for that place.

Sakura watched anxiously as Sasuke gave his name at the desk and they were taken to a table, waiters fussed around them pouring wine and water into different glasses, placing bread on the table and offering them a menu each she felt rather overwhelmed by the attention but Sasuke just looked bored.

"I've never been to somewhere like this before," Sakura said softly and Sasuke gave her a considering look.

"Don't worry about it, it's not that different from other restaurants except you're given more cutlery," She looked down and was faced with a row of silver.

"Uh..." She started looking slightly alarmed.

"The general idea is to work your way inwards," Sasuke said and she stared helplessly at him.

"If you say so," She muttered and Sasuke almost smiled at her. He fiddled with the array of glasses in front of him finally selecting the taller glass and raised it so he could watch the bubbles rise in the sparkling wine they were given. Sakura raised her own slender glass had up in the air and Sasuke did the same, with an embarrassed smile as to how cheesy the situation was they both muttered a "cheers" as the glasses clinked together making a musical sound before they drank.

They studied the menus in silence and Sakura was grateful for the small descriptions under the name of the meal as a lot of the terms used she didn't understand. She glanced at Sasuke over the top of her menu and watched his eyes move as he skimmed through the menu. She looked around the elegant restaurant as the other diners talked looking as used to the surroundings as Sasuke did which only served to make Sakura feel more out of place. Although she felt privileged that Sasuke had decided to take her out to a place like this.

As the waiters came to take their orders Sakura realised that she had nothing else that occupied her attention and instead had to face Sasuke's amusement at her barely concealed awe.

"I hope you didn't take me here just so you could laugh at my reaction," Sakura said as their first course seemed to magically appear in front of them causing more wine to be poured even though neither of them had drunk much of it in the first place.

"No," Sasuke said simply and they fell silent again. Although this time Sakura had her starters to occupy herself with. It was going to be a challenge to eat as everything was stacked up in an elaborate tower that she had no idea how to disassemble, or even start to eat.

They ate in silence. Then suddenly, without warning, it began to rain. It started as a slow pitter patter as a few drops hit the concrete but it soon turned into a steady rush of raindrops which darkened the streets as people who were once enjoying the warmth and fading sunlight began to run for cover. Sakura heard several mutters about the weather from the other people in the restaurant as they showed surprise at the sudden downfall of rain after the beautiful sunshine in the rest of the week.

There was a faint rumble and several diners looked up uneasily as Sasuke turned his attention to the nearby window. A flash of lightning lit up the sky faintly illuminating Sasuke's face in the dim lighting of the restaurant giving it an ethereal look. He looked up at the dark mass of clouds as Sakura smiled fondly at him, she guessed that he might have a soft spot for storms. It just seemed to suit him and she could tell that she was right from the interest she could see in his eyes as he looked out the window, it somehow seemed fitting that the man who spoke so beautifully about winter could appreciate the beauty in a storm as well.

"We haven't had a storm for ages," Sakura said, trying to start a conversation. She paused as another loud rumble of thunder passed that would have drowned out anything she had to say before continuing. "It seems strange to have one in summer though." Sasuke nodded, silently agreeing with her but he seemed captivated by the storm. His dark eyes fixed on the windows that were being lashed at by the rain.

Sakura frowned slightly at him as another loud crackle made everyone pause in what they were doing and look up. She knew that Sasuke was quiet by nature but he had always managed to be friendly to her and even teased her from time to time, his sudden reluctance to talk with the onset of the storm was slightly unnerving.

She on the other hand was much more talkative but most importantly she was a worrier. She worried about most things and still had the childish habit of chewing her bottom lip on odd occasions. But now what she worried most about was Sasuke, who, she now realised, was watching her. And now she worried about whether she had been noticeably staring at him.

Sakura fiddled with a piece of bread from the basket they were given feeling suddenly nervous. Sasuke was looking at her thoughtfully, as another flash of lightning momentarily light up the interior of the restaurant it made Sasuke's dark eyes look like mirrors and Sakura could see herself reflected in then for just a moment which only served to unnerve her further.

She could still hear the gentle sound of the rain outside and the soft murmur of conversation from the other tables in the restaurant but as she maintained steady eye contact with Sasuke. Her stubborn streak refusing to let her be the one to break eye contact first, she became all too aware of the rhythmic thudding of her own heartbeat as she locked eyes with Sasuke.

And then Sakura knew that what all her friends had been saying to her was true. That it was too late for her, while sitting and looking into Sasuke's eyes she knew that she had fallen for him, and there was no going back.

Sasuke reached across the table and took her hand. He continued watching her face as her turned her hand upwards, his fingers gently brushing against her palm before he placed a kiss on it. Startled Sakura stared at their hands before her gaze snapped back to Sasuke's face, a small smirk playing across his features. In their undeclared war he'd won. Sakura had looked away first.

Sakura gently closed her hand into a fist as her palm tingled slightly from the brief contact.

"Sasuke," She started hesitantly. "I don't mean to pry but is everything okay?" A dark look crossed Sasuke's face for a moment and there was another rumble, quieter this time as the storm moved away.

"It's fine," Sasuke said and Sakura sighed wishing he wasn't so stubborn.

"You're being so quiet. I can't help being concerned that's all," She said softly. Sasuke let go of her upturned hand and Sakura found herself missing the contact as she drew it back in towards herself.

"Its fine," Sasuke repeated, "I had an unsettling conversation that's all, it's been playing on my mind."

About what? Sakura desperately wanted to ask but as she saw the closed expression on his face she knew that no more information would be forthcoming. So she just sat back as the waiters cleared the table, handing out menus for dessert and coffee. Sakura joined Sasuke in looking out the window watching a few rays of light break through the remaining storm clouds as the rain eased off. The storm had been brief but violent and already some people were out to catch the last of the sun.

They both eschewed the desert menu, opting for a coffee instead; Sakura because she was too full of the previous courses and Sasuke, well Sasuke seemed to have ignored the list of cakes and pies all together.

Sakura stirred some milk into her coffee and watched Sasuke over the rising steam. She was still puzzled over Sasuke's sudden quietness she wondered whether he no longer felt comfortable with her anymore. He had always been quiet with people he didn't know, a strange shyness that made him come across as arrogant, as if the other people were beneath him, but after realising now how much he meant to her it was a depressing thought.

She saw that Sasuke was watching her, a strange look in his eyes and she wondered what he was thinking of. He seemed to be looking through her rather than at her but his gaze still made her feel uncomfortable. Despite him being only across the small table from her he seemed to be very distant.

She couldn't say what made her think that exactly, his expression, the look in his eyes or even his closed body language; with his arms folded and his shoulders slightly hunched over, but overall he seemed very far for Sakura to reach out too.

Sasuke watched as Sakura flushed slightly under his scrutiny and saw her shift uneasily in her chair. She was running her finger around the rim of her coffee cup and fiddling with the milk jug showing that she was trying to act casually and pretend that she was unaware that he was watching her so closely.

It would have almost been amusing if it wasn't for the heaviness in his heart as he watched her. Sakura had become such a large part of his life recently it was almost unbelievable. Although, as pessimistic as it sounded, Sasuke was just waiting for it to all go wrong.

Nothing good really happened in his life and Sasuke was accustomed to fighting to get anything so it was strange that spending time with Sakura came so easily, so naturally. Although it was not without its...complications and he knew he wouldn't want to drag Sakura further into his world. If it came to her happiness of his, Sasuke knew he would choose hers, even if she was unhappy for a moment he'd rather she didn't suffer for a lifetime. And that was why he could foresee some problems, mainly his brother and the shape of his father's disapproval.

They drank their coffee in silence, each lost in their own thoughts and after Sasuke paid the bill Sakura felt she should say something to him. It was the first time she had been to a restaurant like that before, she had never experienced a lack of money but still to her family a place like that was considered overly extravagant and Sasuke had paid for both of them without a second thought.

"Thank you," Sakura said as they crossed the car park heading for Sasuke's car "I had a lovely time."

Sasuke didn't respond as he continued walking ahead but as he unlocked his car and opened the passenger's door to let Sakura get in she caught his brief but sad smile. It was a smile that made Sakura's heart lurch for a moment before settling back into its familiar rhythm and she wondered what had caused Sasuke to look so downhearted.

Sasuke drove her home in silence and Sakura leant her head against the window to the car, watching the fading colours in the sky, a mix of pinks, greys and yellows as the night finally fell and the brightly coloured street lights and signs whisked by.

The journey home passed too quickly for Sakura and soon Sasuke, ever the gentleman, was opening the door of the car to let her out and walked her to the front door. They paused outside her house and Sakura enjoyed the experience of being almost as tall as Sasuke as he stood on the step below her on the porch. There was an awkward moment as they both searched for something to say which, inevitably, resulted in them both speaking at the same time.

"Well-" Sakura started as Sasuke also began to say something and they both fell silent again, feeling nervous in each other's company.

Sasuke took Sakura's hands in his own and leaned over to kiss her. He drew back and studied her face for a moment before speaking.

"Goodnight," He said softly. "I'll see you next week then" Sakura nodded.

"Right," She said, when she felt she could speak again, "I'll see you at the coffee shop." He still lingered for a moment, looking down at their intertwined fingers before releasing her hands and walking down the few steps to the street.

He turned and there it was again, that sad smile that caused an ache in Sakura's heart as she wondered what it meant, what was behind it. She sighed slightly before unlocking the door, leaving the slowly darkening streets behind her.


	7. Chapter 7

Sakura hurried into the bar. She was already late to meet her friends which seemed to be becoming an unfortunate habit of hers recently. Sakura was usually scrupulously early or exactly on time for everything but this week it seemed like she was always dashing around madly, trying to catch up to herself. She had been late to work almost every day that week, late to meet Sasuke even though it was her day off and she had done nothing else all morning, and she was late again now.

This night out had been something she had been looking forward to for a while, it had become a chance to relax without the need to dress up completely as she would feel the need to if she was meeting Sasuke. The only problem was that she hoped she hadn't made a mistake by inviting Temari who had just as much of a strong personality as Ino had and this meant that they tended to disagree quite a bit. Ino thought that Temari was too opinionated and funnily enough Temari thought exactly the same thing about Ino.

She gave a broad smile as she heard her friends call her over to their table across the bar although it was amazing that she could hear them over the music. It was probably a testament to how loud they were.

She slid in between Temari and Hinata even though Hinata was amiable enough to be friendly with Temari it was safer to keep the distance between Temari and Ino as large as possible.

"You are late," Ino chided. And Sakura sat down with a sheepish smile and Tenten poured out some of the cocktail they were drinking into a glass for Sakura and she gave Tenten a small smile to show her gratitude.

"Sorry," Sakura said knowing that nothing she could say would be a good enough excuse for her lateness in Ino's book. "I was on the phone for ages." She continued in response to Hinata's curious look although this statement did catch Ino's interest as she looked up from her drink although she kept the straw in her mouth.

"To lover boy?" She asked and her voice was slightly muffled from the straw in her mouth and Sakura gave her a disgusted look and snorted.

"Please there are so many things wrong with that I don't even know where to begin," She said.

"Is that a no then?" Tenten asked innocently and Sakura scowled at her in reply.

"Yes, it's a no I was not on the phone to Sasuke." Sakura said firmly and Tenten gave her a smile which gave Sakura some assurance that she was not going to be on the receiving end of merciless teasing for most of the night. "Anyway," Sakura continued. "I thought this was going to be a girls' night out with nothing to do with men." Tenten laughed at that.

"But then we'd have very little to gossip about," She said simply before turning to Hinata. "But that reminds me, Hinata still has to tell us all about her and Naruto." Tenten said this so suggestively that Hinata looked flustered, her face turning pink from embarrassment and Tenten refilled Hinata's drink. "Drink up," Tenten added in the hope that more alcohol would make Hinata more likely to talk about her relationship with Naruto.

"There's nothing to tell," Hinata said firmly, although her voice was slightly higher than usual.

"There must be something," Tenten persisted, "I want to be able to stumble home and happily tell Neji that 'no his cousin is not being groped by his sort-of-friend at regular intervals'". At this point Hinata's face had turned so red that she resembled a tomato.

"Tenten," She squeaked in protest, "Naruto would never-" she seemed unable to continue so resorted to gulping down half her drink in an attempt to be able to form a coherent sentence after that. "I mean he usually always acts the perfect gentleman."

"Usually?" Temari muttered, raising her eyebrows slightly.

"And he always looks out for me and makes me feel safe," Hinata continued ignoring Temari.

"And that's all you can really hope for," Temari said loudly, "A guy who won't try and make unwanted advances and will pay for your share when you go out somewhere," Tenten snorted at this.

"Whatever happened to whirlwind romances and burning passion?" She asked and Ino nearly choked on her drink at this.

"And that's what you think you have with Neji?" She demanded and Tenten went slightly pink at this.

"Please I'm an old married woman now," She said airily. "That's just how I imagine you're exciting lives, going out, not having to cook or wash up and then going back to his place for-"

"Tenten!" Hinata said again, "That's enough," And Temari laughed.

"I think you've forgotten how complicated dating is," She said.

"And what's dating according to Temari then?" Tenten asked, a small smile on her face.

"A bloody nightmare," Temari muttered.

"How so?" Tenten asked with genuine curiosity.

"It's as if all the men I meet have some stupid problem, or they decide they don't want anything serious. One guy I met still lived with his parents which I wouldn't have minded as I'm still stuck with my brothers but he specifically told me that if we ever get to a stage where we would live together I was told that I would have to move in with him and his parents."

"You just need to persevere with people," Hinata said gently and Temari snorted.

"That's a bit hard when you get home to an answer phone message saying that they've met someone else and don't want to see you again." Tenten looked sympathetic but Ino just sat back with a bored expression on her face.

"Sounds like you just have a habit of dating arseholes," She said and Temari glared at her. Hinata looked uneasy as they both sat with their eyes narrowed at each other.

"Ino that's not fair," Sakura chided, resigned to her role as a peace keeper in the group.

"Yeah, we all remember some of the creeps you went out with anyway," Tenten added.

"Like Kosuke." Sakura said and Ino turned to give Sakura a furious look as Hinata sunk down in her chair to try and avoid the confrontation.

"You are not to talk about him," Ino hissed and everyone seemed taken aback by the venom in her voice.

"Okay," Sakura said hesitantly "The point is that we've all had disastrous relationships."

"But at least we can stay in one," Ino muttered and Temari laughed.

"Oh please, the only reason you're still with Shikamaru is because he can't be bothered to argue with you," Temari said.

"Like you know anything about Shikamaru," Ino said, her voice rising shrilly above the music and now some people had turned to look at the commotion Ino and Temari were causing.

"I know him well enough," Temari retorted.

"From what?" Ino hissed "Stories Sakura has told you?"

"No," Temari protested.

"Well this is bringing out their attractive sides I'm sure." Tenten muttered and Hinata just slumped further down her chair in response, taking a sip out of her drink while trying to pretend that two of her friends were creating a scene.

"I have met Shikamaru," Temari continued and Ino gaped at her.

"When?" She demanded and Temari shrugged.

"Ages ago."

"Alright that's enough," Sakura said loudly and Ino opened her mouth to reply, she looked furious. "Does it really matter if Temari and Shikamaru know each other?" She said sternly to Ino who shook her head meekly. "And please Temari don't deliberately wind up Ino and make her jump to conclusion and think that Shikamaru is cheating on her – again. It just makes her come to me and I end up with a headache. Tenten, if Hinata doesn't want to talk about her and Naruto then it's fine but Hinata if he's mean to you, whether he means to be or not tell us and we'll deal with him for you.

"We came out to have fun and not argue okay?" She finished brightly and they all stared at her mutely for a moment.

"Whoa," Came a vice behind them and Hinata straightened in her chair to turn, with the rest of them, and see who it was. "That was impressive." Kiba was grinning at them with a drink in his hand and they all gave him a stony look except Sakura who gave him a bright smile. He held up his hand in a gesture of peace. "I'm just saying. Besides it's kind of funny, it shows what Sakura would be like if she had kids," Ino glared at him.

"I don't call being treated like a six year old funny." She said haughtily, sitting back and folding her arms and Kiba shrugged, obviously not in the mood to argue.

"How's the boyfriend?" He asked Sakura who shrugged slightly.

"He's fine," She said and Kiba nodded, "Why do you ask?" She added, "It's not like you to ask about people's love lives."

"Just curious," He muttered looking uncomfortable, "I ran into Lee at the bar, just warning you in case he see's you as you're going through a rough patch with Sasuke." He paused and looked at Sakura's stunned expression "right?" Sakura narrowed her eyes as Kiba trailed off realising that he had said the wrong thing.

"We are not going through a rough patch," She said sharply. "Who told you that we are?" Kiba looked awkward.

"Well…" He started hesitantly.

"Tell me," Sakura commanded and he sighed and pulled a chair over to their table.

"Chouji told me," He said simply.

"Chouji! How would he know?" Kiba shrugged slightly as Sakura looked at him furiously. She admitted to herself that part of her anger was because her friends had apparently decided that her relationship was doomed and although it was unfair to shoot the messenger so to speak she couldn't help feeling angry after all the doubts and teasing she had endured.

"I think Shikamaru told him," Kiba said.

"Really, and how would Shikamaru know I wonder." Sakura said icily turning to Ino who looked very guilty.

"I only told him that you he didn't really trust you and if he knew Sasuke well and what it could all be about." Ino said looking at her friends steely gaze and she smiled ruefully. "That's all Sakura, I only did it as I was worried about you," Sakura sighed and nodded.

"I just don't want people to think that we're falling apart, that's all." She said, running a hand through her hair and Temari smiled at her.

"You really are fond of him aren't you?" She said, although it was more to herself than to get a reply.

"Sakura!" Another voice interrupted them and they turned to see Lee clutching and empty glass with his gaze fixed on Sakura and they saw Shino lurking quietly behind him. "If you're having problems with Sasuke feel free to confide in me."

"Oh God," Ino muttered burying her head in her hands as Hinata smiled nervously.

"I do not have problems with Sasuke," Sakura said quietly as Temari hissed at Kiba;

"How much has he had to drink?"

"He's only on soft drinks," Kiba muttered and they looked at him in disbelief.

"Sakura." Lee said again happily.

"I don't think her problems are any of our business," Shino said.

"I don't have any problems," Sakura said loudly and they all gave her a pitying look, well, except for Shino whose expression didn't change.

"Don't worry Sakura," Lee said. "If he dumps you I'll always be there for you." He smiled at her and Sakura smiled uneasily back, if he was trying to cheer her up then it definitely wasn't working.

"Are you sure he's only had soft drinks?" She whispered to Kiba once Lee had turned away to look for a chair. Kiba shrugged again as Lee came back dragging a chair with him.

"Thanks for your support Lee," Sakura said once he had reached the table, "but really everything's fine." Ino frowned at this.

"It might not be," She said softly but Sakura managed to hear her over the music and gave her a questioning look. "Well maybe, just maybe," She said hastily seeing Sakura's face darken. "It's a hint that he'll break up with you, it's just a possibility I don't want you to get hurt when, okay if, it happens."

"I know," Sakura said with a sigh, "but I'm sure I've told all of you at least once before I want to enjoy myself now and if it happens I'll deal with it then."

"That's surprisingly easy going of you," Ino commented. "Then again you've probably seen me get so worked up about things-"

"Like Shikamaru having a conversation with another girl," Tenten muttered and Ino glared at her.

"That you have learnt from me and have decided-"

"That I won't make all you're stupid mistakes?" Sakura asked.

"I wish you would stop interrupting me," Ino said huffily and she paused. "But yes that's about it really," Hinata smiled.

"If he's not talking to you then maybe he's got nothing to say," Shino said and Sakura frowned at him.

"What do you mean?" She asked but Shino just took a sip of his drink and didn't seem as if he was about to elaborate now he'd said his bit.

"Shino's right," Hinata said, "Sasuke's generally not a talkative person right?" She asked and Sakura nodded in reply. "So he might not feel as if he has anything to say, or he doesn't want to engage in pointless chatter."

"And let's face it with who he's friends with he's probably never short of pointless chatter," Tenten said with a grin.

"Besides," Hinata continued ignoring Tenten's comment. "I know from Naruto that they've all been working late into the night recently with one thing or another so there's probably not much for him to talk about." Sakura gave Hinata and Shino a grateful smile as the rest of them pondered this for a moment.

"Must be interesting where he works," Kiba commented eventually.

"How so?" Sakura asked and he gave her a small smile.

"Well, working with Naruto, never a dull moment there," He said, "Or a quiet one."

"Guess you're right," Sakura said with a smile.

"Will you please stop insulting my boyfriend," Hinata muttered.

"Aw, we don't mean any harm," Tenten said.

"Beside's he's kind of sweet in a daft sort of way," Ino said and Hinata looked at her uncertainly.

"Uh, thanks," She said. They fell silent for a while each lost in their own thoughts as the music beat out a steady rhythm around them.

"How about we get another pitcher," Sakura suggested gesturing towards the empty jug on the table.

"Sure," Hinata said and the rest all nodded in agreement. However, before Sakura could get up to go to the bar someone laid a hand on her shoulder and for a second time Sakura turned to see Lee behind her.

"I shall buy the drink for you," He said in a tone so serious that none of them dared to argue with him. They watched him in silence as he made his way through the crowds to the bar.

"Ah Lee," Tenten said softly, "Ever the gentleman."

"I feel quite bad though," Temari said, "I barely know him and he's buying me a drink."

"He's getting us all one," Ino pointed out.

"I don't want to take advantage of his generosity though," Hinata said and they all exchanged glances, unsure whether to accept Lee's kind offer of a drink or try to press some money onto him.

"Please," Kiba said, "if he wants to buy you a drink you might as well accept it after he's gone through the trouble of getting it for you."

"He's only doing it as he fancies Sakura," Ino muttered darkly.

"That's beside the point," Kiba said. "let him do as he likes."

And a moment later when Lee returned they thanked him graciously for the cocktail pitcher and as far as he was aware no indecision had taken place.

They fell into conversation again, although the idea of having just a girl's night out had been ruined, Kiba was good company and Lee provided an endless source of amusement with his bizarre antics while Shino sat quietly observing them all.

At some point Hinata began checking her phone at regular intervals and when she was asked whether they were boring her she turned pink and explained through her embarrassment that she was expecting a call from Naruto when he left work. This caused them all to turn their attention to the time, and then when remarking on the lateness they wondered why someone would be at work when it was after eight in the evening.

"I wonder if something's happened," Hinata said sadly "or if he's forgotten."

"He wouldn't forget you Hinata," Ino said with a laugh. "This is the guy who rings you every day after work to tell you how his day went and what he had for lunch."

"Always the same," Tenten chipped in.

"Ramen," They chorused and Hinata flushed slightly although she did look slightly pleased.

"He did go out for a sandwich last week," She said with a laugh.

"How did that happen?" Ino asked and Hinata gave Sakura a small smile.

"I think Sasuke coerced him into eating something healthier, there was salad in it apparently." She said.

"Well if he hasn't rung then he must still be at work," Temari said practically.

"Such dedication to his job," Lee said, his eyes shining. "It is most admirable." There was a stunned silence as they exchanged strange looks with each other.

"I guess so," Kiba said eventually. He saw Hinata check her phone again and grinned at her. "Hey Hinata, how about going somewhere else?" He asked and Hinata glanced up at him.

"What now?" She had a confused expression on her face.

"Why not?" He said. "It's not too late so we could maybe go see something at the cinema." He grinned, "besides it will stop you thinking about that," he said gesturing to her phone, "and when we get out you'll probably have a message from him explaining everything." There was a small pause.

"Sounds good to me," Tenten said.

"Alright," Ino said and Sakura and Temari agreed as well. Shino just nodded and Lee was about to launch into an impassioned speech about the genius of Kiba's idea before Tenten shut him up by threatening to pour the remainder of her drink on his head. Hinata looked at her friend's expressions knowing that they were all doing this out of concern for her.

"Sure," She said with a grateful smile at Kiba, "It sounds like a brilliant idea." And with that they finished their drinks and headed off talking and laughing towards the cinema.

Across the other side of town a tall office building sits with a few twinkling lights on. Its cleaners are long gone and only a few people remain moving around the building. The only sounds are scattered conversation, the low hum of computers and the odd sigh or curse as people realise how much time has passed and how much of their lives at home they've missed.

Some have people waiting for them at home; husbands, wives, children, a girlfriend or boyfriends who expected them to come home hours ago only to receive an apologetic phone call with the hope that they'll be back soon.

"Hey Sasuke," The person addressed rubbed a hand over tired eyes as they knew the peace of the building was shattered.

"What?" He asked irritably and his companion looked surprised that he had actually bothered to reply.

"How much longer is this going to take?" He asked although there was a slight tinge whining in his voice. Naruto set down the last pile of papers he could find and split them between himself and Sasuke.

"You could have gone home at five Naruto," Sasuke said and Naruto shrugged.

"That's not what I asked. I wanted to know how much longer this stupid data entry is going to take."

"Not long." Sasuke said as he narrowed his eyes at the pile of papers in front of him, by now it was considerable smaller than it had been when he had started in the morning. "I hope." He muttered under his breath, "Why did you even stay late if you keep whining about it?" Sasuke asked and Naruto laughed sheepishly as he began typing into the contents of the form into the laptop he had dragged into Sasuke's office.

"I don't see why they could have given us more warning instead of telling us today that it all has to be done by tomorrow." Naruto said conversationally, trying to brush off Sasuke's question. "Although Itachi probably only deigned to inform us all today just to spite us."

They were silent for a while and the only sound was the clatter of keys as they typed on the computers and shuffle of papers. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto briefly showing his annoyance that his friend had dismissed the question, Naruto noticed this and grinned cheerfully.

"Well, your father doesn't think I show enough dedication to my job so here I am doing a lot of extra hours when I could be at home having a decent meal-" Naruto said.

"Instant noodles aren't decent," Sasuke said but Naruto continued talking over him.

"-and watching TV," Naruto finished looking slightly offended at Sasuke's comment. Sasuke was silent for a while.

"Ah Sasuke," A man from their department stuck his head into the office sounding relieved. "I'm done and now I'm heading home, I'm sure my wife's worried about me." Sasuke nodded, still looking stonily at Naruto who was beginning to look slightly nervous under Sasuke's close scrutiny. They heard footsteps fade down the corridor as the man left and Naruto shifted uncomfortably as Sasuke suppressed as smug smile, yes something was definitely wrong.

"What, what is it?" Naruto asked.

"I don't believe you," Sasuke said plainly.

"What that I'd rather be at home watching TV," Naruto said with a shaky laugh. "I can assure you it's true, that's what everyone else who's done overtime tonight would probably prefer to be doing." Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto again in an attempt to intimidate the truth out of him, Naruto, however, seemed oblivious to Sasuke's irritation.

"Okay, okay," He said breezily, "I wanted to get Hinata a nice present and the overtime money would be useful."

"Naruto," Sasuke said quietly allowing his anger and pent up frustration at his brother seep though his words and Naruto sighed seeing that he could no longer fob him off with meaningless excuses.

"Fine," Naruto said. "The truth is that I'm worried about you." Ah, there it was, Sasuke knew it was coming. Naruto couldn't help be concerned about people, even about those he had just met. He felt things too much and to Sasuke it was just one more reason not to tell him anything important. He saw Naruto's eyes flick to the bruise on his arm that was now visible when Sasuke had, foolishly it now seemed, rolled his shirt sleeves up to his elbows because of the heat.

"There's no need for you to worry." Sasuke said stubbornly, knowing exactly what his friend was driving at.

"Sasuke," Naruto started but paused when Sasuke gave him a look that clearly said "don't" or maybe even "keep talking and I'll break both your arms" but the message was clear enough anyway. Nevertheless, Naruto took a deep breath and bravely tried to continue the conversation.

"I just-" He began but Sasuke interrupted.

"I've finished all the papers," He said. "How about you?" Naruto looked down in surprise at the clear bit of desk that used to have the forms he had mindlessly entered onto the computer resting on it.

"Yes I have," He said "But that's beside the point."

"Is it? Let's go." Sasuke said gathering his belongings to leave the building. Naruto muttered a curse as he followed Sasuke out into the, now empty, corridor.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called after his retreating figure. "I want to talk to you about your brother." At this Sasuke went ridged and Naruto took this as an opportunity to run and catch up with his, now still, form. "I know what's going on between you and Itachi, I've heard you argue, seen the bruises, I'm not stupid." Naruto said, his voice rising in volume with every word.

"I know that." Sasuke snapped, his temper, always easy to ignite, sparked and without thinking he lashed out only to regain control of his emotions with his arm inches away from Naruto's body. Naruto didn't move.

"Why don't you do something about it?" Naruto asked, his voice trembling slightly.

It seemed unreal, he reflected, finally being able to talk to Sasuke about it, about what had always bothered him as Sasuke seemed unable to avoid the conversation he had managed to dodge for so long.

And of course it was strange that the long awaited conversation was taking place in the imposing office building that Itachi constantly used to put his younger brother into one stressful problem after another, today's fiasco being another classic example of what was dubbed "miscommunication" between the two by Sasuke's father, or of what Naruto thought was another way for Itachi to try and mess with Sasuke's life.

"Like what?" Sasuke said bitterly, "If you're so intelligent you should know what happened the one time I tried to fight back." Naruto nodded slowly.

"Leave?" He suggested weakly and Sasuke shook his head.

"And if he starts on someone else? It's not just physical violence; Itachi seems to enjoy playing mind games with people the most." Sasuke said quietly.

"He's got you trapped by your own worries," Naruto muttered but Sasuke heard him.

"I know," He said, "but I can put up with it."

"At least talk about it," Naruto persisted and Sasuke gave a hollow laugh. "I'm perfectly serious. Don't keep everything bottled up and to yourself, if you don't want to talk to me than at least talk to Sakura." Naruto added desperately, knowing that Sasuke was never that receptive to advice. Although it was now that Sasuke finally turned his head to meet Naruto's gaze head on.

"Sakura?" He said with disbelief. "I barely know her," He said dismissively.

"That doesn't matter," Naruto said stubbornly. "She'll try her best to understand it all, she won't judge you," I already told her, he added silently.

Sasuke looked away again and Naruto began to feel desperate as the wall and barriers that usually surrounded Sasuke began to close again and he knew that they'd never have this conversation again.

"You might lose her," He cautioned and there was a slight pause as Sasuke seemed to consider this as a possibility.

"Then maybe its better that way," He said eventually before turning and continuing down the dark corridor leaving Naruto dumbfounded.

"What?" He whispered before running after his friend and calling loudly after him, although he never did get a reply. Naruto reached the exit and saw Sasuke's retreating figure in the distance, he gave a small sigh before brightening slightly, he knew what would cheer himself up, talking to Hinata would make him forget his worries for a while.

Sasuke sat down in his car with a heavy sigh. He knew Naruto was displeased with him but at the moment he was beyond caring. He had been running late that morning, a bad start to a day that had gotten infinitely worse, but he was glad he didn't have to walk home. It had come as a shock when Naruto had thrown Sakura's name into the conversation but he didn't want to get her involved. They were his problems and he didn't feel like sharing them with the world. Naruto, on the other hand, had made himself involved from the start and had noisily barged his was into Sasuke's life.

He could see Naruto's figure standing in the middle of the car park and a small, involuntary smile crossed Sasuke's face, at least Naruto seemed happy with Hinata. He saw Naruto waving one hand in the air for a moment then, as he fired the engine of his car, he paused slightly as he heard Naruto shout;

"Ah, no! It's gone to voicemail."

Who knows maybe Hinata was fed up of him ringing her all the time but from the way they acted around each other Sasuke doubted that would ever happen. Still he watched Naruto slope off looking rejected with some amusement before taking pity on him.

"Do you need a lift home?" He asked as he drew level with Naruto in his car. Naruto gave him a sheepish smile before running round to the passenger's door to get in.

"Thanks," He said cheerfully and Sasuke shook his head slightly at him. Naruto always changed his mood so easily. As they left the car park Sasuke could see out of the corner of his eye Naruto keying in Hinata's number on his phone again, he seemed to have memorised it. Sasuke rolled his eyes, it seemed unlikely that she would have magically turned her phone back on in the few seconds that had past and Naruto's sudden shout of "voicemail again!" Only confirmed this.


	8. Chapter 8

Sakura arrived at the coffee shop early, at last, and in a good mood. Although this was dampened slightly when she saw that despite her coming early Sasuke was still waiting for her. He saw her approach and gave her a weary smile. It was only when she had gotten through the crowds of people clustered around the doorway of the cafe that she noticed how tired he was. His hair, although always messy, looked even more dishevelled than usual as he slouched against the side of the building. And from the tired expression on his face it looked like he hadn't slept properly for a few days now.

Sakura gave him a warm smile as she approached.

"You look dead on your feet," She commented and he shrugged slightly.

"Well what can I say?" He said simply. "It's been a busy few days," Sakura nodded but found herself reaching put to press her palm against his forehead. Sasuke looked slightly amused at this but allowed her to satisfy her concerns.

"You need to get more sleep," Sakura said absentmindedly. "You've been working far too hard."

"Says you," Sasuke said mildly. "Do you often try to diagnose people outside your office?" Sakura flushed slightly and she imitated what Sasuke did earlier by giving him a small shrug in reply.

"Shall we go in?" Sakura asked, gesturing to the coffee shop.

Sasuke nodded and pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on to follow her inside. He paused slightly behind her as she opened the door letting out the strong smell of coffee and Sakura half turned to see if Sasuke was still behind her. She smiled when she saw him paused in the doorway before she grabbed his hand to gently pull him inside.

"Come on." She said softly and he let her pull him into the cafe and towards the counter. They placed their order together and Sasuke quickly paid for both drinks before Sakura could even reach for her purse. She gave him a mock disappointed look and he grinned at her. Sakura gave him a broad smile before briefly sticking her tongue out at him as she picked up their drinks and made her way over to an empty table. Sasuke shrugged slightly at the person who had served them before following her.

"So what have you been up to then?" Sakura asked once they'd sat down, "I heard that you'd had to do a lot of overtime." Sasuke nodded and turned his attention to his drink as Sakura watched his expression carefully to see if there were any changes.

"Well luckily for me it's been pretty quiet at work recently," Sakura said cheerfully and she could tell by the way Sasuke had tilted his head towards her that he was listening. "Everyone else seems fine especially Naruto. He seems to be spending every second that he's not in the office with Hinata; but you've probably heard all about that from him."

Sasuke nodded, he had heard, he had heard all about Hinata and what they had done together every day for the past few weeks. It used to be almost bearable but now it had gotten to the point where Sasuke was contemplating throwing Naruto out on the top floor window. He didn't say any of this though, he just nodded at Sakura and waited for her to continue.

"Sasuke," Sakura started hesitantly and he looked up at her. "People have been saying things," Sasuke frowned at her.

"What things?" He said softly and Sakura paused, taking a sip of her drink to try and put off what she was going to say for a moment.

"That because of one thing they think we're going to break up," She said, choosing her words carefully. She didn't want him to know that because of her confession to Ino everything had gotten out of hand. Sasuke looked at her thoughtfully.

"Why?" He asked eventually.

"Well, I don't know exactly but-" Sakura started.

"You said it was because of one thing," Sasuke said, "so just say it." Sakura looked down at the table, refusing to meet his gaze.

"Well, I guess it was because we don't talk like other couples do, nothing really intimate or whatever. We still don't know much about each other." She said timidly, trying to gauge his reaction, although it was hard as she couldn't bring herself to look up at his face. She saw him shift as he sat back in his chair.

"This again," He muttered and Sakura looked up sharply to see a frown in his face.

"Sasuke I-" She faltered when he looked up at her and took a deep breath. "Sasuke are we going to break up?" Sasuke held her gaze for a while before he shrugged and Sakura's face fell.

"I can't say that we won't," Sasuke said quietly, "as I don't know what's going to happen in the future but I don't want to." Sakura smiled at him, somehow an answer like that she found more reassuring than some kind of pledge to remain together forever.

"Thank you," She said and he gave her a puzzled look. "For being honest," she clarified and Sasuke shrugged as if to say that it wasn't a big deal.

Sakura reached out to touch his hand and Sasuke moved so he could easily hold her hand in his. She gave him a small smile which he almost returned as she noticed a slight softening in his expression. Sakura gently squeezed his hand as she looked down at their entwined fingers as a nostalgic feeling washed over her.

It had been such a strange few months. Especially too think that after frequenting this coffee shop with Ino so long to catch up with each other's lives that she would eventually be coming there with the dark haired young man in front of her now.

The one who she and Ino had enjoyed many an afternoon whispering about and speculating as to whether he had a girlfriend, or worked for the secret service, which always caused Sakura to chastise Ino as a having the most bizarre imagination the she knew of. With the man who seemed to enjoy silence and solitude as he sat in the corner with a book as he ignored the rest of the customers. The man whose hand she was now holding.

Sakura looked up at Sasuke again and found that he was also looking at their hands and wondered what was going through his head. She took this time to study his face and noticed a small crease on his forehead as he was frowning ever so slightly and Sakura smiled as she could almost see the different thoughts that crossed his mind ad his scowl either deepened or stayed the same. She gently moved her other hand so she could grasp Sasuke's hand that had been resting on the two of her own and he looked up at her, tilting his head back as he gave her a questioning look.

"What is it?" He asked and Sakura just smiled at him he frowned at her and her smiled just broadened in response.

"I'm just glad," She said eventually. "I'm glad that even if things go wrong that we've been here like this, together." She said hesitantly and Sasuke smiled at her, he slowly moved his hand to hold hers as he raised it. Sakura looked at him curiously as he grasped her fingers gently in her hand and she felt her cheeks warm up as he placed a kiss on the back of her hand. They looked at each other for a moment, unaware that some of the other customers were glancing their way, and Sakura smiled shyly as she blushed from his actions.

Sasuke suddenly frowned and released her hand and Sakura watched him, biting her bottom lip slightly, as she saw him glance at his phone and his expression darkened considerably as he read something on the screen.

"Sasuke, is everything alright?" Sakura asked tentatively and Sasuke's gaze suddenly snapped to her. Sakura flinched slightly at the sudden intensity of his gaze.

"It's nothing." He said curtly and Sakura looked down at the table, folding her arms primly in front of her.

"If you say so." She said softly wondering what had made him suddenly stop talking after their conversation about their communication troubles, but she didn't want to push it with him and maybe that was their problem really. After that one time where she had forced him to tell her what was going on in his mind he had been furious and she hadn't seen him for weeks. So maybe when it came down to it she was too afraid of losing him to make him talk to her properly.

They drank their coffee in silence, each too lost in their own thoughts to say anything much. And Sakura began to wonder how long it would be before Sasuke would open up to her. She was unaware that Sasuke was also considering their relationship. What it was worth to him and what Sakura meant to him. He raised his, now slightly cold, coffee and frowned again, what was Sakura worth to him and what does she deserve?

As their silence lengthened Sakura began to feel awkward and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Sasuke looked up at her dully, still lost in his own thoughts, as she gave him a small smile.

"I best be off," She said, attempting to be cheerful, something that didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke. She moved and had almost fully stood up out of her chair when Sasuke's hand shot out to stop her. Sakura straightened as she looked at the hand on her arm. "Sasuke?" She said curiously.

"Don't go," Sasuke said stiffly, "not yet." He was looking at the table as he spoke but Sakura smiled at him anyway.

"Well," She said, dragging it out, "I guess I could stay I have nothing that needs done immediately." The pressure on her arm increased and she allowed Sasuke to gently push her back onto the chair and this time his eyes flicked up to her face and he watched her intently as she lowered herself back onto the chair. He pulled his arm back away from hers and Sakura propped her elbows on the table with her chin on her cupped hands.

"So," She said with a smile, "what is it? I'm guessing you wanted me to stay for a reason?" Sasuke said nothing although he seemed to be thinking something over and she had the unsettling thought that he was slowly working up to something.

"Let's go," He muttered eventually and stood up. Sakura followed him feeling confused as he led her through the different streets and across the road. At some point he took her hand in his which gave her some assurance that not all had been lost on their date after Sasuke's phone had gone off. Sasuke suddenly pulled on her arm and Sakura found herself being half dragged across a busy road, something that seemed to be a bad habit of Sasuke's, as several drivers shouted angrily as he forced them to stop.

"Sasuke," Sakura said in surprise, "You should be more careful." Sasuke said nothing and Sakura rolled her eyes, was he actually going to speak to her again anytime soon she wondered.

Wordlessly Sasuke tugged Sakura through the doors to a half familiar building and stopped suddenly. When she peered round him, Sakura saw Kakashi leaning back in his chair with a book covering to lower half of his face, a usual position for him it seemed as she hadn't really seen him do much else. Sasuke rolled his eyes and walked towards the desk with Sakura following, as they approached Kakashi slowly opened one eye and looked at them.

"Haven't seen you for a while," He said, his voice was slightly muffled by the pages of the book, and Sasuke shrugged slightly. "And you've brought you're young lady with you again," Sakura gave him a small smile as the man briefly turned his attention to her before moving back to Sasuke again. "Well go on up then, I'm guessing that's what you're here for and not a dazzling conversation with me." Kakashi said and Sasuke nodded his thanks.

They were slowly making their way up the staircase before they heard Kakashi's voce call out to them again.

"It's meant to be a clear night," He said, "So you'll have a good view." Sakura shouted back a brief thank you as Sasuke said nothing in reply, he only carried on walking up the stairs and Sakura followed him looking worried.

It had just been a single message on his phone that had caused such a drastic change in attitude around her. At the beginning of their date he had been quite chatty, well, as chatty as he could be around people. But after that his general good mood had vanished and, although he seemed almost content with her company, Sasuke had said barely two words to her since. So Sakura was forced to revert back to her previous past time, worrying about Sasuke.

All the things she had been told and seen, all the overtime at their office, that Naruto insisted on staying late with his friend, Itachi's relationship with Sasuke, everything made her feel scared for what the future had in store for herself and most of all for Sasuke. And of course this all had to happen after she had tried to initiate a conversation about their relationship.

Sasuke opened the heavy door and they stepped out onto the roof together and it was only when Sasuke gently tugged her towards the wall round the edge of the building did Sakura realise that they were still holding hands. Sakura smiled as she followed Sasuke to look out across the city, he sighed and leaned against the cold concrete, folding his arms and Sakura frowned at the loss of contact.

Sakura leant forward, looking out across the city, enjoying the view.

"Kakashi was right," She said eventually to break the silence. "It is a clear night," Sasuke nodded and Sakura looked at the fading sun. "Looks like we made it in time, the sun's starting to go down," Sakura turned round to smile at him. "We've watched the sunset here before," She said.

"Sakura," Sasuke said softly and she jumped at the sound of his voice as he had been quiet for so long. "It's been fun," He said finally and Sakura gave him a quizzical look.

"It has hasn't it." Sakura said cheerfully. "I had a lovely time today." Until you got that message she added silently. She saw a strange look in Sasuke's yes when she said that.

"Sasuke, what is it?" She asked hesitantly, "Are you alright?" He nodded slowly.

"It's nothing," He said. "It's just-" He paused slightly as if he was searching for the right words, "I'll miss you." He said finally and Sakura laughed.

"You'll see me again," She giggled and Sasuke said nothing, he only looked towards the fading sun and the flickering streetlights and suddenly Sakura felt a sudden wave of loss. "You'll see me next week at least right?" She asked, suddenly n need of reassurance that they would see each other again.

"Yeah," Sasuke said softly and Sakura gazed out over the darkening city. Suddenly it didn't seem so beautiful or spectacular anymore.

The last few rays of sunlight were straining to be seen and although the moon was clear and bright it seemed as if everything was dying with the sun. A few streetlights had turned on but were flickering badly, giving a sudden burst of light before vanishing into darkness again, and then repeating the process. She saw people hurrying home in cars or walking swiftly through the streets desperate to get home, to be safe in the light.

Summer, she thought ruefully, it was supposed to be beautiful and full of life but now Sakura felt that she'd much rather be in that crisp winter with Sasuke by her side than here, now, unsure where her future would lie.

Sasuke turned to face Sakura and studied her expression, he could see a range of emotions cross her face from confusion as his sudden behaviour, to a terrible aching loneliness that he recognised from his own expression at times. He thought back to the coffee shop at the start of their date and wondered if he could have handled things better from there but he knew that very soon he had a decision to make.

"Sakura." He said eventually and she turned to look at him with a hurt look on her face and he could only guess what was going through her mind. Although it was strange that only a few words from him could affect her so deeply. "What if I-" He broke off suddenly "Would you-"

He paused again, realising that it was useless and that he'd never be able to say it easily to her, he'd never had a way with words, unlike Naruto who could spin a story so easily he found it difficult to, not lie exactly, but to omit certain details from a story.

"Sasuke, you make it sound as if you're dying," Sakura said, she could feel her heartbeat racing as she was hit by a sudden wave of nerves. "What's going on?" She tried to look him in the eye. "Why do I feel like you're saying goodbye to me?" Sasuke looked at her helplessly as he saw the fear in her eyes.

"Sakura," He breathed and pulled her into his arms. "I'm sorry," He said tightly not knowing what else he could say to her.

Sakura shifted in his arms so she could wrap her arms around him taking a small amount of comfort from his actions. Sasuke looked down at Sakura and saw that her eyes were closed and that now she seemed content although he knew that he couldn't keep her happy forever.

"Sakura?" He said eventually and she pulled away from him slightly so she could look up at his face. "Let's go," She nodded and then he added as an afterthought. "Do you want me to walk you home?"

"Sure," Sakura said as they made their way across the roof to the door.

Kakashi looked up when he heard their footsteps as they descended the stairs together, he noticed Sasuke's troubled expression and the worry on Sakura's face and he immediately wondered what was going on before dismissing the thought as something that was definitely not his business.

Sakura smiled at Kakashi when they left which made a refreshing change to Sasuke's usual blank expression and Kakashi gave her a small wave when she glanced back before following Sasuke outside. It would be a pity, he reflected, if anything was to happen between them. He couldn't deny that Sakura made things more interesting and he did want to see more of her around, he'd have something to tease Sasuke about then.

Sakura trailed after Sasuke as they walked down the streets to her home, it was still bright as their path was illuminated by the harsh glow of the street lights and the brightness of the moon.

"Sasuke." She said in the end, unable to bear the silence between them and he turned to look at her to show that he was listening. "What do you think the future does hold?" She asked it was something that had been playing on her mind ever since he had said it and Sasuke shrugged slightly.

"How should I know?" He muttered.

"Just guess," She said, smiling at him and Sasuke frowned.

"A shit job," He said finally and Sakura frowned at him so he sighed and continued. "I don't know I guess things will stay pretty much the same. I'll always have Naruto hanging around every so often, I doubt things will get any better with my family." Sakura nodded and they fell silent and this time it was Sasuke who felt compelled to break it.

"What do you think is in your future then?" He asked and Sakura looked briefly startled by his sudden question, she hadn't expected him to continue the conversation. They walked in silence for a moment longer as Sakura thought about how she'd like her future to play out. Her immediate thought, as clichéd as it was, was that she wanted to have Sasuke in it, but she dismissed it as something too foolish to say to him.

"When I was younger I wanted to be rich and successful," She said thoughtfully. "But now I think I'd like to continue with my job with Temari and Tsunade and maybe someone else if we keep getting busier and Tsunade expands. I'd like to see all my friends happy, Ino and Shikamaru should definitely get married and I don't know about Naruto and Hinata but I hope they'd stay together."

"And you?" Sasuke said softly. "What do you want?"

Sakura opened her mouth to reply and then closed it abruptly, she was going to say that she wanted to marry someday and then hopefully follow that with children until something else occurred to her.

"I just want to be loved," She said, "and then hopefully everything else will work out." Sasuke nodded and continued walking although he had bowed his head and was studying the floor. Sakura looked across at him and smiled, he was frowning slightly and there was a look of intense concentration on his face as many different conflicting thoughts crossed his features.

They soon arrived at Sakura small house and stood awkwardly together outside the front door, Sasuke still seemed deep in thought and Sakura was reluctant to let this evening end. She smiled at him when she caught his eyes and Sasuke managed a small smile back.

"So," Sakura said eventually, "I'll see you next week then?" She asked and Sasuke nodded.

"Yeah," He hesitated slightly before adding softly. "I'm looking forward to it." Sakura felt herself blush at the uncharacteristically sweet statement and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek.

"Me too," She said and Sasuke shifted to softly kiss her on the mouth.

"Goodbye," He said and Sakura frowned.

"See you later," She said firmly as she didn't want to feel like he was leaving forever, Sasuke almost smiled.

"See you later," He repeated when he saw her glower at him and she smiled before kissing him again. Sasuke watched Sakura let herself into the house and when she turned round she saw that he hadn't moved. Sakura smiled at him again and she let him kiss her goodbye for the third time she waved shyly at him before closing the door gently behind her.

Sasuke turned and bowed his head as he began walking away from Sakura's home. He was lost in his own thoughts again, wanting that moment outside Sakura's front door to last forever but something more troubling was bothering him when it came down to it what was more important? Her happiness or his? He already knew what his answer was.

Sakura watched Sasuke walk down the street away from her home through the curtains his head was bent low and she smiled warmly as she thought back over their time together, raising a hand to her lips as they tingled slightly. It had been a strange day, Sakura reflected, but even though Sasuke had been a little off with her at times she had still enjoyed herself and had drawn some comfort from his presence. But little did she know that soon her entire world would come crashing down around her.


	9. Chapter 9

The next week passed slowly and Sakura was presented with what seemed to be endless hours of diagnosing patients and prescribing medicine, and on the odd occasion she had to turn people away when there was clearly nothing wrong with them.

It was monotonous and without Tsunade, Temari and the visiting Shizune, Sakura felt that she would have gone insane with how mind numbingly bored she was. There was no excitement, nothing weird going on, things were quiet and still and they were, as Temari put it, practically stagnating as they waited for the next bit of drama to come their way.

Summer was slowly fading outside as the heat wave had ended and the cold winds from the north blew in signifying the start of autumn despite the few warm days that they were still blessed with.

However there were still flowers in bloom and the small patch of earth outside Tsunade's surgery was in a riot of colour. It was a place that Temari tenderly looked after in her breaks. That was of course unless she was in a bad mood where she had a habit of ripping off the heads of flowers, both living and dead, in her fury she claimed it was her way of working off her anger.

So when Wednesday finally came crawling into view Sakura was ecstatic, she had a day off to look forward to and, as tradition dictated, she was going to the coffee shop to see Sasuke.

For Sasuke the week past too quickly for his liking. He was rushed off his feet with work and went home everyday exhausted and found it too much effort to bother cooking anything so had spent his time being irritable, hungry and mentally exhausted from the amount of work Itachi had delegated. He had insisted that he thought his little brother could cope with the workload as it wasn't like had anything to distract him from his work, like a girlfriend.

So Sasuke had just gritted his teeth and got on with it, getting up early to work, skipping any form of breakfast and working late into the night. For once he was actually glad that Naruto seemed to have an endless supply of instant noodles as it now seemed to be the only food he had consumed this week, and even that had been at his desk, and all this had been to ensure that on Wednesday he would be able to take an hour or two for lunch and see Sakura. But when it came to it he was even dreading that.

Sasuke left early for lunch so that he could avoid a last minute confrontation with his brother, he already knew what he was going to do but he didn't need Itachi turning up to make himself feel even worse and Sasuke was resigned to the fact that from today everything was to change.

Sakura hummed softly to herself as she walked down to the coffee shop enjoying the warmth of the sun on her skin and she smiled foolishly to herself in anticipation of meeting Sasuke.

When she arrived at the coffee shop Sasuke was, unusually, not there as previously he had always been waiting for her outside the small cafe making her apologise for being late when in fact she was always exactly on time, or even early and Sasuke was just earlier. Sakura frowned slightly at the place he always stood. She paused leaning against the wall before walking over there herself as she settled down to wait, there was still a few minutes before their appointed time to meet, maybe something had come up she thought, but still she couldn't quell the bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

The feeling vanished, however, when she saw Sasuke slowly making his way up to the coffee shop, he spotted her instantly and headed in her direction.

"Hey," He said and Sakura frowned at him, pretending to be annoyed.

"You are late." She said slowly emphasising each word and Sasuke looked slightly sheepish.

"Sorry," He muttered grudgingly and Sakura smiled and shook her head slightly.

"Its fine," Sakura assured him. "It just worried me as you always arrive before me, did something happen?" She asked cautiously and Sasuke shook his head.

"You don't need to worry about it." He said curtly and Sakura looked away at the other people walking up and down the street. She briefly wondered what they were all doing and if there was as much uncertainty in their lives as she felt she had in her relationship with Sasuke.

It was something that she had never confided in her friends as she worried about what their reactions would be. It wasn't unusual to feel nervous at the beginning of a relationship but now that the cold was setting in with the arrival of autumn Sakura had known Sasuke for almost a year and there were times where she still felt unsure where she stood with him, and what she meant to him. Although there were also times when just being with him made her feel as if everything in the world was right. It was strange, confusing and most of all Sakura felt frustrated at the range of conflicting emotions that Sasuke could make her feel.

"Shall we go somewhere else?" Sasuke asked. "I need to talk to you" Sakura nodded, although she was confused why they had to go already. There was nothing wrong with sitting and talking over a cup of coffee like they used to was there? But then again it seemed as if this was shaping up to be a strange day and there was still that nagging feeling in Sakura's mind that Sasuke was never late.

"Sure," Sakura said cheerfully, maybe too cheerfully as Sasuke looked at her carefully as if he was weighing something up in his mind. He turned abruptly and began walking off without even glancing behind him to see if Sakura was following, although, of course, she was.

As they walked Sakura looked around at their surroundings while trying to keep up with Sasuke who was able to dodge through the people she collided with only moments later. Damn him. She eventually caught up with him when he paused on the edge of a park and Sakura smiled slightly. She remembered this place, they had spent a cold afternoon here together on the swings and it had been a rare occasion as Sasuke had confided in her and told her a little about his life and friendship with Naruto.

Sasuke glanced at Sakura and he seemed to hesitate for a moment as he saw the content look on her face.

The brisk walk had caused her cheeks to flush slightly and she was smiling slightly as she looked at the swing sets in the distance. He looked away from her, staring at the cars going past on the road to the side of them and when he looked back to see Sakura smiling gently at him any hint of hesitancy or reluctance was gone to be replaced by cold, hard resolve.

He walked towards the park and head Sakura's footsteps behind him as she followed and he could almost feel her confusion at his actions. They walked along the path in the direction of the swings for a while in silence; the only sounds were from the traffic and the crunch of feet on gravel. It was an odd time of day between the usual lunchtime rush and the end of school so not many people were about.

As Sasuke stopped walking just outside the play park near the brightly painted fence surrounding it. Sakura gave him a puzzled look as he stood glaring at the bench to the side of them looking distinctly awkward. There was another long silence as Sasuke continued to look at the bench with irritation plain of his face, well it was more looking through the bench, he didn't seem to be aware that it was there.

"Sasuke, it everything alright?" Sakura asked gently finally breaking the uncomfortable silence. Sasuke made to open his mouth but he closed it again and shook his head. The silence stretched out between them again and Sakura began to feel nervous, whatever Sasuke was working up to she was sure it wasn't good, then he finally spoke and Sakura found out just how right she was.

"We need to break up," Sasuke said roughly and Sakura felt her heart lurch.

"What?" She asked and she heard her voice crack with suppressed emotion. Sasuke continued looking off to the side, his gaze still fixed on the same spot as he seemed unable to look at her. Well good, Sakura thought savagely, he should feel bad about this. "Sasuke." Sakura started taking a step towards him and at the same time he took a step back to keep the same distance between them.

Sakura took a deep breath trying to remind herself to be reasonable when all she wanted to do was to start shouting, screaming, to do anything to make his reconsider, to even have the decency to look at her while her destroyed her happiness.

Sakura took a another breath to steady herself as her mind worked furiously. Sasuke had certainly not been himself recently being more prone to long silences and the serious attitude he seemed to hold in the office was carried out into his time with her but she had never seen this coming. HE still refused to look at her.

"At least look at me if you're serious about doing this." Sakura snapped and felt a sudden pride in her outburst as it caused the normally stubborn Sasuke to turn his head and finally face her but Sakura was shocked by what she saw in his face.

The eyes are said to be the windows to the soul and although Sasuke's face was completely blank his eyes held such turmoil that Sakura wondered what had happened to make him look this way for him to end it with her so suddenly after what had been a few months of happiness together.

After looking at his face Sakura felt herself become fairly reasonable again as she squashed her anger to keep it inside her for the moment, she could get hysterical later.

"Sasuke." She said softly trying to be rational, after all her friends warnings nothing could have prepare her for this, for what she felt. Sakura reached out for him and he jerked back, a strange look on his face, and this only served to make Sakura hurt even more.

"Why?"She asked. Was it her? Him? Maybe he hadn't been looking for a serious relationship; maybe it had all been doomed for the start.

Sasuke turned away so his back was facing her and was silent for a while and Sakura felt her anger start to boil up again as he refused to face her, to look at her.

"Sasuke please at least tell me why." Sakura said again, his figure was blurred from the tears in her eyes that threatened to fall but Sakura didn't want to cry in front of him.

"You talk too much," Sasuke said tersely, "Just accept it, we won't see each other again."

"I just can't accept this Sasuke. Can't you see that?" Sakura said and her voice was rising in volume, which contrasted with Sasuke's calm, quiet way of speaking. "After all the time we spent together I don't see how you can just leave. I just can't understand you. I never know what's going on in your head and you never tell me anything unless I press you about it."

Sakura took a deep breath to steady herself as she continued. "I worry about you so much, you always seem so troubled and despite all my efforts nothing seems to work. I can never make you happy can I?" Sakura asked and Sasuke didn't reply. The silence weighted heavily between them and Sakura took another shaky breath wanting to at least get a reaction, a response, she didn't want him to walk out of her life saying nothing.

"After all this don't I mean anything to you?" Sakura shouted as she felt herself losing all her composure as the tears began to come running down her face. Sasuke's reply was quiet and composed and Sakura found herself hating that about him, that he could always be so controlled, so calm, as if he weighed up the value of each word before he said them.

"It's not that." Sasuke said and with the next few words Sakura felt her rage go to be replaced with confusion, "you mean too much."

"What?" Sakura asked and she felt her panic rising, she wasn't sure when he had come to mean so much to her but despite everything she had said to her friends; that if they broke up she'd just deal with it then, suddenly mean nothing as she felt that she couldn't bear to lose him. "Sasuke, please you're not making any sense," She begged.

"It doesn't matter," Sasuke said flatly.

"Sasuke" Sakura said desperately taking a few steps towards him "why are you doing this?" Sasuke turned his head slightly and looked at her, he paused slightly and Sakura realised that she must look terrible, she was crying and her eyes were probably red and her makeup smeared from trying to wipe the tears away. Their eyes met and Sakura thought that for a moment she saw a hint of concern in Sasuke's eyes but when she blinked they just looked cold and flat so she wondered if it was just wishful thinking.

"Sakura." He said hesitantly and she looked at him hopefully, tears still streaming down her face. "Thank you, for everything," He said finally and with that Sasuke walked away, and out of her life.

Sakura half sat half fell onto the bench and sobbed. She buried her face into her hands to muffle to noise and was for once glad for the cold that kept people from going out in spontaneous visits to the park so no one could see her or pity her.

At least no one had seen their break up and at least it had been quick although these small comforts meant nothing to Sakura as she abandoned all her self control and cried like a child. She didn't care anymore.


	10. Chapter 10

There are times when other people just know when to avoid someone. There's a certain expression on their face or a certain atmosphere around a person that just screams; 'stay away from me or I will hurt you', and today people in the Uchiha office building were tripping over their feet to stay away from their boss's youngest son.

As Sasuke moved about the office emitting a dark aura and when he was shut in his office with his door firmly closed against human company even the block of wood seemed to be menacing and people found themselves scurrying past it as fast as they could without actually losing their dignity and running.

One person, however, seemed oblivious to the mood and spent all the time he could cheerfully attempting to make conversation with Sasuke who generally looked like he wanted to murder him. So the overall decision in the office was that Naruto was either very stupid or completely fearless.

Although little was known about the cause of Sasuke's foul mood most people were content to ignore their curiosity. As they thought that to inquire about it would be the nearest equivalent to suicide and although Sasuke was seen as, generally, the more even tempered of the Uchiha brothers they knew that he had an explosive temper when provoked that put Itachi's to shame. Besides most people could figure out that somehow the other Uchiha brother had been part of the cause.

Naruto stood outside the door to Sasuke's office and braced himself for Sasuke's bad mood. He knew that as soon as he entered the office he would be told to get out and if Sasuke didn't have as much composure as he usually did then something heavy would probably make its way onto Naruto's head as well. Nevertheless, Naruto grinned as he pushed the door open letting it slam on the wall as it swung, it was a small victory in annoying Sasuke further

"Ever heard of knocking?" Sasuke said icily and Naruto laughed.

"And why would I do that?" He said and Sasuke said nothing. Naruto frowned, usually Sasuke would at least have a smart reply to something like that and the lack of one was defiantly a cause for concern. Sasuke had a tendency to bottle everything up and lash out at the person who pushed him too far. Naruto wandered further into Sasuke's office letting the door slam behind him and sat on Sasuke's desk taking satisfaction from the annoyance that flickered across Sasuke's face.

"So-" Naruto started, drawing out the word and watching Sasuke stare furiously at the paperwork in front of him. He might be provoking the devil but he might as well have some fun as Sasuke tried to control his temper. "So," He said again dragging the vowel out for even longer this time.

"If you've got nothing to say then leave," Sasuke snapped.

"Fine," Naruto muttered and then fell silent. Sasuke looked up and glared at him to get him to leave.

Naruto sighed and, ignoring Sasuke's furious look began swinging his legs he looked up at the ceiling of the office and could see Sasuke out of the corner of his eye giving him a murderous look.

"Why did you break up with Sakura?" He asked innocently and heard a crack, Naruto looked down to see that Sasuke had managed to snap the pen he had been using in half. Naruto watched Sasuke as he raised his hand to look at the ink stains on it.

"I'm serious Sasuke," Naruto said when he realised that no explanation was forthcoming. "Why, you two seemed happy together."

"Did we?" Sasuke asked blankly still looking more interested in the black marks on his hand than his friend and Naruto frowned.

"Yes." He said sounding slightly exasperated now as Sasuke was slowly managing to wear through his almost infinite patience "So why did you end it?"

"You wouldn't understand," Sasuke muttered.

"You're right I don't understand why you suddenly decided to break Sakura's heart."

"What makes you think hers was the only heart broken." Sasuke said and Naruto stared at him.

"What?" He asked as his brain tried to process this new information he watched as Sasuke's face changed until it was completely devoid of emotion and even the flicker of annoyance at Naruto still swinging his legs against the desk was gone.

"Just go Naruto." Sasuke said flatly and Naruto sighed before he jumped of the desk and walked out slowly and deliberately as he felt Sasuke watch his every move and closed the door quietly behind him.

Sasuke frowned at the papers in front of him and rubbed a hand over tired eyes. It had been a long time since he had slept properly and Sakura had commented on it only a few weeks before. And, to make things worse, in the past few days after he had left Sakura by the bench his sleeping pattern had gotten worse as he stayed up half the night staring out of the window as the guilt felt like it was slowly eating away at him from the pit of his stomach.

Trying to shake all thoughts of Sakura and Naruto's puzzlement and obvious disapproval at his actions Sasuke turned his attention to his computer to try and find something that would require all of his attention so he wouldn't be able to dwell on some of his more unpleasant memories.

On the other side of the door Naruto looked down at his feet and he tried to figure out what was going on in his friends mind. Although Naruto had never been very good at guessing Sasuke's complicated thought process, as far as he was concerned if he cared about someone he would do anything to be with them, to make them happy.

Naruto treasured his time with Hinata and never wanted it to end and if Sasuke felt the same for Sakura then he couldn't understand why Sasuke would suddenly break it off. Naruto pushed himself off the door to Sasuke's office and began to wander down the corridor to his own cheerfully greeting the people he came across as he continued to mull over the problem in his mind. He knew he would do anything for Hinata, as long as she was happy he was; he would do anything to make her smile, anything to keep her happy, do anything to protect her.

Oh.

Naruto froze suddenly causing someone to walk into his back and there was a flutter of papers falling behind him. He turned and began apologising profusely to the girl who had walked into him and helped her gather up the documents as he thought.

So that was it. Maybe he and Sasuke weren't that different after all. Sasuke must have been able to foresee something that none of them could and in an effort to protect her and preserve her happiness in the long run he broke it off with her. He was leaving Sakura temporarily broken hearted but likely to find happiness elsewhere and the rest of them bewildered by his actions.

Naruto smiled at the girl as he handed over the papers he had gathered and apologised again as she explained that she had just come from Itachi's office and had to get through all the papers by the end of the day. He wished her luck and watched as she walked cautiously round the corner the documents and forms piled high in her arms.

He wondered what Itachi had said to Sasuke, and if there was any way to remedy this situation. He had already told Sakura the minefield of a relationship that Sasuke shared with his brother and he hoped that maybe someday she would see it too. That she would someday see that Sasuke thought that by breaking up with her he could protect her from his brother. And maybe then they could find some sort of happily ever after, even if it was just for a short time.

Naruto gave a satisfied smile as he sat down at his desk. He was determined to find out what had happened from Sasuke and maybe then Hinata could somehow tell Sakura and then maybe she could forgive him. They both deserved to find some happiness with each other and Naruto wanted to help them achieve that.

Sasuke leant his elbows on his desk and rested his forehead on his interlocked hands as his jaw clenched slightly. There were some things he thought that Naruto would be unable to understand and it wasn't that Naruto was inherently stupid but he was unbearably optimistic and naive despite all evidence to the contrary that the world was not the happy rosy place that Naruto seemed to believe it was.

Naruto seemed to believe that if something made you happy then you should just go for it, not that he was a selfish person he seemed to gain happiness by spreading joy to other people and managed to get depressed over other people's problems. It was this childlike attitude to the world that endeared Naruto to a lot of the female staff and it was also what irritated Sasuke the most about him. What Naruto would never understand was why Sasuke would willingly destroy his own chances of happiness and trap himself within the demands of his family business.

Or maybe he was underestimating his friend. Sasuke frowned fed up of trying to second guess people which seemed to be almost a requirement in his place of work, he'd just have to wait either Naruto would keep bugging him until Sasuke revealed his reasons for breaking up with Sakura or he'd start berating him for his reasons for breaking up with her. Looking at it either way Sasuke could see several headaches coming his way.

The first headache would be from berating himself for not finding any kinder way to break up with Sakura or for doing anything to soften the blow. But then again he always had terrible people skills that wasn't something he could easily change. But still, years of preservation had taught Sasuke to harden his heart and one look at Sakura as her eyes filled with tears almost broke that. As he had to bite down on the inside of his mouth to stop himself from saying anything else, to try and justify his actions, to tell her everything. If there was one moment in his life when Sasuke truly hated himself then that was it.

The second headache would be Naruto bothering him about it all the time trying to find out Sasuke's exact reasons or even to try and somehow help the two of them come back together again. What was even worse was that Naruto was fond of Sakura in his own way and Sasuke knew that he'd have to face Naruto's disappointed look for the next few weeks.

And the third headache had just walked through the door. Brilliant.

"Hello Sasuke," Itachi said coolly looking around the neat office.

"Itachi," Sasuke said curtly although the older man hardly seemed to notice.

"You know you did the right thing," Itachi said casually walking further into the room as Sasuke clenched his fists tightly. "Breaking up with that girl, you saved her from a lot more heart ache if you stayed together only for you to throw her away later. It could never have been real between the two of you. What happens in the family stays in the family you know that. The only outsiders allowed in are thoroughly vetted by Father and there's no way she would have passed, she's too ordinary, just a normal girl but I suppose that was part of the appeal." Itachi said giving Sasuke a thoughtful look. Sasuke glared at the desk in front of him as Itachi continued. "There's something about her though isn't there. If you want to I can go and comfort her now you've left her all alone. She'll need the support I think, people know about her. You see everything you've done, everything you've tried to prevent, all your actions have been useless."

"Get out," Sasuke said stiffly, still refusing to look at his brother. Itachi laughed slightly. "I mean it Itachi," Sasuke said, his hands were shaking slightly with barely contained anger and he made an effort to stop it.

"Fine, I will, I think I might go and find Ms. Haruno anyway." Itachi said and left Sasuke's small office. Naruto saw Itachi leave as he headed back towards Sasuke's office and hurried into the room afterwards to see what had happened. He saw Sasuke slam both his fists onto the desk and they heard a cracking noise as the woodwork was dented beneath Sasuke's hands, there was a throbbing pain where his fists had made impact with the desk but Sasuke ignored it.

"Bastard." He hissed and Naruto edged towards him looking worried although Sasuke turned away from his friend and tried to ignore his presence. Naruto sighed as he saw Sasuke's reluctance to talk to him.

"Sasuke," He said softly, "If you ever want to talk..." He trailed off knowing that Sasuke understood him as his dark eyes flicked briefly towards Naruto before returning to their original position. "I'm always happy to listen anytime." Naruto said firmly before leaving Sasuke to his own thoughts which, if Sasuke was brutally honest with himself, were a lot worse than having to listen to Naruto's prattle.

Somehow Itachi always handed him the things that helped him make a complete mess of his life.


	11. Chapter 11

It had become the general consensus among her friends that what happened to Sakura was a pity.

Tsunade and Temari thought it was a pity as Sakura had lost her motivation to work when previously she had taken great pride and joy over helping people get better. It was also a pity that she now tended to sit in silence drinking coffee on her breaks instead of joining in the lively banter that usually filled the practise.

Ino, Hinata and Tenten thought it was a pity that Sakura had lost her chance at happiness but at the same time, as they kept trying to remind her, there would be other people. However, Ino's feelings of sympathy for her friend bordered on violence as she kept ranting about how she warned him about hurting her and that she had a blunt, rusty knife in her kitchen for situations just like this.

Tenten had smiled at her friend trying to reassure her that all was not lost but she still felt a wave of pity for the girl as she imagined how she would have felt if Neji had left her.

Hinata was a lot more compassionate and indulged Sakura's need to have ice-cream, chocolate and alcohol in excess as she sank into a disappointed stupor thinking back over her time spent with Sasuke. She even thought about the times where she and Ino had watched him read, before she had even known his name.

Hinata had left Sakura cry and talk about Sasuke while making the appropriate noises without interrupting her with threats against Sasuke's person that got increasingly violent with time which only served to distress Sakura more. It was maybe because Hinata was generally a more understanding person. They had often teased her because of her sweet nature as she was a lot less prone to criticise someone. But Hinata thought that although Sasuke had left Sakura heartbroken that there was something else behind it all. She had known the Uchiha family a long time and relationships between the family were often strained like they were in her own.

Despite spending many evenings with Sakura, Hinata still managed to find time to see Naruto. Whether it was during lunch breaks or on the odd evening that Sakura had other company to take her mind off things and while Hinata told Naruto about Sakura's troubles he also told her about his concerns towards Sasuke. And it was from this that Hinata concluded that it was not just an ordinary break up.

It was because of this that Hinata made sure that she spent much of her time with Sakura, she knew that Naruto would understand, and she tried to give Sakura as much support as she could but there was always a problem every Wednesday either Ino, Tenten or Hinata would find Sakura missing with no clue as to where she was.

Sakura in fact continued to frequent the coffee shop on her day off without her friends knowing or even guessing as they all seemed to assume that it was a place that she would want to avoid. But she kept going in the hope that she'd see Sasuke even if it was just for a little while but he seemed to have disappeared all together.

She wondered whether he was deliberately avoiding the place or if he was busy with work and whether she was torturing herself by thinking about him too often. The main thing that bothered Sakura was that Sasuke seemed to have suddenly changed his mind. Although he had grown increasingly quiet and thoughtful in the past weeks he had always seemed happy enough in her company so she couldn't understand why at the park he had finished with her giving only a short apology and an unsatisfactory explanation.

Maybe she really did talk too much.

Sakura sighed and started down at her now cold cup of coffee which she had barely touched. She supposed that she should take everyone's advice and forget about him completely but it was much easier said than done. There were just little things that constantly reminded her of him and her heart leaped every time she caught a glimpse of dark hair in the hope that it was him only for her to be disappointed moments later. She saw a lot of Hinata with Naruto and although they did their best to cheer her up she saw their happiness together and that only reminded her even more of what she had lost.

"You're a hard person to find Sakura Haruno." Ino said sternly from behind her. Sakura turned and saw her friend standing behind her with her hands on her hips but as she saw the guilty expression on her friends face her gaze softened and she sighed. "Have you been coming here all along?" She asked gently and Sakura nodded as Ino took the seat next to her.

"You're a hopeless case," Ino said softly and Sakura shrugged.

"Maybe," She said. "But I still can't help feeling that something was a little off."

"Who knows," Ino said. "I didn't know Sasuke as well as you did but Hinata says-" She stopped talking suddenly and flashed Sakura a guilty look.

"I know you've all been talking about us behind my back." Sakura muttered wondering whether to be offended at this or not.

"Well-" Ino said slowly deliberating on what to tell her. "Hinata said that Naruto's been keeping an eye on Sasuke and he's not himself." She shrugged slightly. "Hopefully he's realised that he's made a terrible mistake, that he can't live without you and that any chance he had of having children is void because I'm coming after him for what he's done to you."

"You don't need to go that far," Sakura protested but Ino just grinned at her.

"You know you shouldn't keep doing this to yourself," Ino said softly. "If you want some coffee that badly then there are plenty of other places to go too. Or even stay at home for a cup." But Sakura shook her head at this.

"Ino, you of all people should know that this place is special. It's where we always used to go to meet up with each other I have some amazing memories in this place."

"It's also the place where we used to watch Sasuke and didn't you two start talking here?" Ino asked and Sakura nodded looking down at her hands on the table.

Ino sighed again and looked around at the small coffee shop like Sakura she had lots of memories of this place. As she had passed much of her time talking and laughing with her friends, mainly Sakura it seemed to become their 'thing' to come here for coffee. As they passed the hours away before life became too complicated.

She could understand why Sakura wanted to be here the good memories must outweigh the bad and besides Sasuke didn't break up with her here, he had considerately done it outside and in the cold. Ino scowled slightly as she once again contemplated the use of violence against Sakura's ex-boyfriend.

The bell in the coffee shop rang as the door swung open and Sakura turned to look at the person who had walked in and Ino watched as sudden hope blossomed on her face only to instantly die when the person who walked through the door was not Sasuke, although there was an uncanny resemblance to him.

Both girls watched the dark haired figure make their way over to the counter to be served. They were both noting the similarities between Sasuke and this stranger, they both had dark hair and eyes although this man's hair was considerably shorter than Sasuke's own messy hair and he seemed to be slightly taller than Sasuke.

Ino watched Sakura carefully out of the corner of her eyes to see her reaction to the stranger. Her friend watch his every movement closely and when the man turned round he appeared slightly disconcerted by the strength of their stares. He gave then a strange smile as if he was uncertain as to how to react to such a situation before awkwardly and still under Sakura's careful scrutiny he made his way to an empty table and pulled a book out of his bag.

Sakura sighed and Ino gave her a sympathetic look she opened her mouth briefly before closing it again unsure of what to say.

"Its fine Ino," Sakura said after the silence became too awkward for both of them. "It doesn't bother me."

"You always were a terrible liar." Ino said as she watched Sakura's expression as she continued to observe the dark haired man, "but it's okay if you're not, fine I mean, there is an amazing similarity between the two." Sakura nodded and then looked down at her drink suddenly, Ino looked over and saw the man looking in their direction now and she smiled sweetly at him. He had realised that they had been staring had he?

The man stood up and slowly approached their table as Sakura continued to stare at her coffee.

"Is there a problem?" He asked awkwardly and she looked up in surprised and flushed slightly in embarrassment.

"Everything's fine," Ino said coolly and he gave her a strange look.

"But surely there's something wrong when you keep staring in my direction." He mused. "Or have I got that wrong?"

"We can look wherever we like thank you very much." Ino said and Sakura recognised the glint of cold, hard anger in her eyes.

She had been irritable since she had found out that Sasuke had broken up with Sakura and that she was forbidden to hunt him down and carry out her previous threats, if this new guy, who looked enough like Sasuke for Ino to get her violent fantasies out of her head, tried to contradict her one more time it was likely that she'd unleash the full force of her anger.

Usually Sakura would try and stop this but today she just wasn't in the mood to try and pacify Ino' temper.

"But I thought that by excessively looking at someone it showed that you were attracted to the person." The man claimed, innocently enough Sakura thought.

"Well you though wrong," Ino snarled.

"Oh," The man looked slightly put out, "are they allowed to publish lies then?" There was a pause as both Ino and Sakura exchanged puzzled glances.

"Publish?" Sakura asked eventually.

"Yes, it's written in this book you see." He said proudly and showed them the volume he had been looking at earlier and with that Ino's anger disappeared as she gave him a small smile.

"There are all sorts of different ways of looking at people you know." She said but this only seemed to make him more confused.

"And you probably shouldn't read those they don't really help." Sakura added as they both felt a sense of pity towards the guy who had clearly misunderstood them.

"But I was told to improve my people skills for work how else will I do that?" He asked.

"You could always just talk to people you know." Sakura suggested and Ino looked at the dark haired man and saw his as a welcome distraction for Sakura.

"In fact," Ino said. "Why don't you sit down, we can introduce ourselves and talk and you can work on your people skills." He looked at them with a strange expression on his face, probably wondering how Ino's open hostility had turned into a pleasant smile Sakura thought unless he couldn't tell the difference in her attitude.

"Okay," He took the seat opposite them. "I'm Sai."

"Ino," She said extending her hand which he shook across the table. "And this is Sakura, don't mind her she's not in the best of moods." There was a pause.

"Am I allowed to ask why?" He said eventually and Ino shrugged and beckoned him closer. As he leaned across the table she whispered in his ear loudly enough for Sakura to hear.

"She's suffering from a broken heart," Sakura rolled her eyes as Sai looked at her curiously.

"You don't have to tell him that," Sakura said sharply but Ino just shrugged.

"You're not denying it, Sasuke broke your heart didn't he?" Sakura looked uncomfortable as Ino decided to bring up the conversation that she had been decidedly avoiding over the past weeks and she was doing it in front of a stranger as well. She could feel Sai's curious gaze on her as he seemed to be interested in this conversation but was unsure how to react to this sudden change from the previous light hearted banter.

"That doesn't matter Ino." Sakura said firmly and Ino looked at her stiff expression and gave Sai and awkward smile.

There was an uncomfortable silence as Sakura ran her finger repeatedly around the rim of her mug of coffee and Ino stared fixedly at the patterns in the wood grain of the table.

Sai glanced between the two young women he currently shared the table with feeling distinctly confused but even with poor people skills he could tell the a strange mood had descended between the two of them. Ino frowned as the seemed to come to some sort of conclusion to something and she looked straight up at Sakura who refused to look at her.E

"Sakura why do you even stay here?" Ino demanded and Sakura frowned slightly her head still turned away, "you're just torturing yourself." Ino continued but her voice was softer this time and Sakura sighed.

"I want him to be able to find me if he needs to," she said still not even looking at Ino or Sai and Ino gave her a sad smile before frowning slightly.

"He already knows where you work isn't that enough?" she asked but Sakura shook her head.

"This place is special," She said softly and Ino looked helplessly at her friend. Sakura had never really dated lots of people she had only had a few serious relationships previously that had all left her completely devastated when they had ended.

"May I ask how it's special?" Sai asked hesitantly. "It looks just like any other coffee shop to me." Sakura smiled at him slightly and his gaze flicked down to the book he was reading as if he wanted to open it to try and find a way to navigate through this tricky conversation.

"Just from all the memories really," Sakura said softly. "Spending time with Ino and everyone else, I heard about Tenten's engagement here and of course this is where I started talking to Sasuke." Sai looked thoughtful.

"Who is your ex-boyfriend correct?" Sakura nodded. "So it's a mix of good and bad memories then?"

"But the good outweigh the bad," Sakura said firmly and Sai looked thoughtful.

"So as long as you focus on the good memories it's alright then," He said and Sakura smiled.

"You are better than this than you give yourself credit for," She said and Ino nodded in agreement.

"That's probably something we should all do," Ino said and Sakura shot her a confused look. "Concentrate on good things rather than the bad, like I spend so much time complaining about Shikamaru and all his negative qualities but really he has more good qualities than I give him credit for. He's thoughtful, can be quite sweet when he want to be and has a good enough memory to remember my birthday, Valentine's day and our anniversary even if he does thing it's too bothersome to celebrate them half the time." She smiled at her memories and Sakura grinned at Sai as they watched a dreamy expression form on Ino's face.

"So what good memories do you have of this place?" Sai asked and Sakura paused.

"I'm not sure, like I said I've shared so many good memories with people here that I can't really pick one, but I suppose the one most personal to me would be..." She paused as she realised that she was going to name the time all those months ago when Sasuke had suddenly asked her if she wanted to go out to lunch with him.

Out of the corner of her eye Sakura saw Ino frown as she probably realised that Sakura's fondest memory was something related to Sasuke. She looked up and saw Sai patiently waiting for an answer and smiled at him.

"It's of someone who was once very special to me."

"Once?" Sai asked and Sakura nodded. She could see Ino's expression reflecting the anger she always displayed when Sakura began to talk about Sasuke too kindly because as far as Ino was concerned Sasuke was a bastard for dumping Sakura it was as simple as that. She was an extremely loyal friend in her own way.

"But surely if this person if part of your best memory here they must still be of some importance in your life?" Sai asked and the curiosity was evident in his voice.

"I guess they must be," Sakura said softly and Sai looked thoughtful as if he was trying to understand this whole concept.

"But they shouldn't be," Ino said and Sai frowned in confusion.

"Please Ino you know it's not that easily to get over someone you loved."

"You loved him?" Ino practically shouted. "Since when?" Sakura flushed as she realised what she said.

"I don't know I didn't mean to say that," She protested as Ino narrowed her eyes at her.

"Ah." Sai said and looked taken aback at the sudden glare from Ino in his direction as he continued uncomfortable. "I believe that is what this book refers to as a Freudian slip," they both blinked at him.

"Sorry?" Sakura said with the terrible feeling that this would somehow make Ino's anger increase tenfold.

"A slip of the tongue that reveals what was it? 'Subconscious desires'," He flicked through a few pages of the book. "Particularly sexual ones." He added which made Ino sharply turn to face Sakura.

"So," She said with a smile fixed manically on her face.

"Ino it was nothing," Sakura said hastily. "Maybe it was a slip of the tongue but there were no underlying meanings to it."

"Really," Ino said and her eyes had narrow practically into slits. "And if I said Sasuke had just walked into the door." Unfortunately as Ino said this the bell above the door chimes and Sakura turned to see someone older and female walk in the coffee shop. She flinched as she realised her mistake and wondered what Ino would make one it.

"Sakura you need to stop fooling yourself," Ino said and even she could tell that her tone of voice was unusually harsh. "You need to forget any memory you shared with Sasuke put it all to the back of your mind at the moment until you can distance yourself from it. Don't think about the happier times in fact don't think of him at all or are you just waiting to see if he'll some back for you?" Sakura gaped at her friend for her sudden change in attitude although she could see the concern for her in Ino's eyes it didn't make the sting of her worse and less painful.

"That's not what I want," Sakura said sharply and Ino glared at her.

"Then what is it you do want Sakura?" She demanded.

"I just want you all to stop looking at me as if you pity me. Yes I'm upset, and yes Sasuke did break my heart but we've all been through stuff like this before and I'll get over it in time." Sakura said loudly and some of the other customers looked warily over at their table as Sakura stood up. "Just give me some time and I'll be fine." She said stiffly before turning on her heel and walking off angrily.

Ino sighed and looked over at the confused looking man across the table from her.

"Sorry," She said, "I guess I pushed her a bit too far but I promise that not all conversations are like that."

She glanced out the window and saw Sakura heading down the street briskly and looked down at the table feeling guilty. Unfortunately she didn't see Sakura being approached by someone who had been watching them in the coffee shop just waiting for the right moment to talk to the girl who had just left.

"Well hello again. Sakura was it?" A voice said in her ear and Sakura fumed inwardly whoever it was had ruined her all important storming off down the street and away from her traitorous friend moment. She turned rounds and balked slightly at the sight of Itachi Uchiha standing in front of her.

Itachi noticed the shocked expression on her face and gave her his most charming smile.

"So nice to see you again," He continued smoothly. "I don't see why Sasuke doesn't have you round the office more often you certainly had a way of brightening up the place when you were there." Sakura frowned wondering whether it was just her imagination or did his eyes linger on her hair for a lot longer than just a cursorily glance. Despite this she plastered her most pleasant smile on her face as she spoke.

"Unfortunately, Sasuke saw fit for us to no longer see each other so you'll have to find someone else to brighten up your office." She said as she moved to leave and get away from Sasuke's brother but her reached out to stop her before she could make a swift exit.

"Such a shame." He murmured fingering a lock of her hair which made the slight discomfort Sakura had felt since Itachi had first started this conversation start to move towards full blown hysteria. "I wonder why he'd want to discard such a beautiful flower such as you."

Out of a long standing habit of being unable to receive compliments well Sakura found herself beginning to blush. But between the pretty words Sakura detected something else behind them, maybe it was all the stories she'd heard from Sasuke and Naruto but she could sense something sinister behind his words and taunting smile that made Sakura suspicious it was all to coincidental that she would somehow catch the eye of both Uchiha brothers especially when everything about them was so dissimilar.

Sakura jerked away from Itachi and registered the look of mild surprise in his eyes and she wondered whether it was one of the few times he didn't get what he wanted. His grip on her hair was stronger than she thought or maybe he had deliberately tightened his hold as she moved away as she felt a slight tug near her scalp and saw a few long strands of hair in his hand as she stepped back away from him.

"I have to go I can't deal with this right now." She said firmly as Itachi examined the hair that was left between his fingers.

"Of course," He said softly, "I'll see you later then."

Sakura didn't reply as she turned and walked as fast as she could away from Itachi. She didn't know what he was trying to do but she didn't want to have anything to do with it as small, more paranoid part of her mind was waving flags and jumping up and down for attention.

She wondered if it was some way to get back at Sasuke and shivered pulling her thin jacket around her tightly despite the heat.

She was worried for her ex-boyfriend, heartbroken that he had left her and worst of all she knew that all the good times with him outweighed the bad and that it would take a long time for her to get over him.


	12. Chapter 12

There are many different beginnings to many different things.

As the sun light begins to reach over the horizon signifying the start of a new day some people rise out of bed to begin their day, whereas others have already started theirs and others have no plans to begin their day at least not until much later.

In a small bedroom the sunlight shines through the curtains as a young woman turns over in her bed pulling the covers over her head in an attempt to avoid her beginning for a moment longer. She manages to fall back into slumber for a little longer until a shrill noise from her bedside table wakes her again.

Sakura often wakes up like this, as she gropes blindly for her alarm clock and hits the snooze button. However it seems all too soon before it goes off again so Sakura gets up and stumbles to her bathroom, partially dragging her warm duvet with her leaving it trailing half on the floor and half on the bed.

Across the other side of town a different kind of beginning is starting as a muffled groan emerges from a much larger bedroom as a dark haired young man sits up rubbing his eyes doing his best to ignore the noise from his alarm clock. Finally as it becomes too much of an annoyance to ignore he slams his hand down onto the off button before falling backwards back onto the bed again as he contemplates getting up this morning.

The girl wandered back out of her bathroom feeling more refreshed from her shower and almost ready to face the new day as she skilfully avoided the fallen duvet and began to pull some clothes out of her drawers as she got ready to go to work. She changed and applied some make up with a strange determination as Sakura was about to put Sasuke as far from her mind as possible she smiled slightly at her reflection in the large mirror in her room. As she had already decided to throw herself into her work that day and forget the man who had, in his own way, changed her perception of the world.

The man screws up his eyes at the bright light filtering through his curtains and grudgingly makes a move to get up. He stands and pulls the covers back over the bed so it appears sort of made and grabbing the clothes he set out the night before trudges, yawning over to the bathroom.

Several minutes later he emerges, hair slightly damp from a shower and with a cursory glance at the mirror he walks still half asleep to the small kitchen.

If the man's kitchen is small then the young woman's is bordering on tiny but she still moves easily about it used to the smaller space where one person can still move sufficiently enough it was only with company that the small kitchen became crowded.

There was a pause, a slight falter as Sakura remembered Sasuke's presence filling up the majority of the kitchen as, laughing, he managed to corner her so she was unable to squeeze past him and escape into the living room.

Sakura shook her head abruptly banishing the memory as she was determined to stop her friends from worrying about her, to end their hushed conversations about her well being which stopped suddenly as soon as she came within hearing range. She knew that getting over Sasuke would be hard but after her brief argument with Ino the day before she wanted to at least give the appearance of a normal, happy lifestyle. She pulled a plate out of one other cupboard's and began to find something interesting to eat for breakfast.

Over many different building and houses of people rising out of their beds to get ready for school, work or a day of leisure we stop once again to see the young man rummaging through his bag checking to see if he has all the documents he worked on last night and if there's anything thing else he may on the off chance need. He sighed and closed the suitcase before rubbing his eyes, tired after staring at the lists of facts and figures late in the night, and even in the early morning he still didn't feel fully rested.

He glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that he had plenty of time and an almost smile crossed his face. Sasuke pulled on his jacket and, picking up the briefcase, he left the house revelling in the quiet morning.

The sun shone brightly and there were only a few wisps of cloud in the sky as the last few days of summer held on despite the crisp autumn wind brining a chill to the air and colour to people's cheeks. Sasuke enjoyed walking to work. It was a strange time and very few people were about. The early risers had already gone and the late sleepers still yet to stir and as he was yet to enter his office Sasuke still managed to retain a more positive mood.

However more recently darker thoughts had been encroaching on Sasuke's mind and no matter how many times he told himself that it was for the best there was always a voice whispering in the back of his mind and it was getting more persistent as time went on, always insisting that it was always more pleasant to walk with company. And that was how one stressful day, without really thinking about where he was heading, Sasuke found himself outside and almost entering the coffee shop where he had previously found that company.

It had been a wrench seeing Sakura sitting there with Ino and another man but there had been a small hint of a smile on her face at the time and her eyes sparkled with amusement just like he remembered. So Sasuke found himself able to turn away as he walked out of her life once more even though this time he never really entered it. He had only been an observer and had seen that she would be able to recover, in time, from the blow he had dealt to her heart.

Sasuke looked up at the tall glass building in front of him. He had been so lost in thought that he hadn't been aware that the Uchiha office building had come into his line of sight and now as he stood by the entrance he paused, watching the people move about in the reception area quickly as the lifts sped up and down taking people to the correct floor and some people dashed up the stairs instead of waiting amongst the throngs of people to use the lift.

It looked every bit the busy, successful company and most people aspired for a job either here or in the Hyuuga company in order to reach the top of their career, because then they would really have it all wouldn't they; the successful job, a home, family, happiness even but since working here on and off in part time jobs and when he graduated from university the imposing building seemed to do nothing to Sasuke but take away all his chances of happiness.

"Hey." Sasuke turned his head and saw Naruto approaching him with a broad grin on his face. "You got here earlier than usual," He added brightly and Sasuke glared at him already irritated by Naruto's good mood. Naruto looked sideways at Sasuke's grim expression and smiled again.

"Come on," He said cheerfully tugging on Sasuke's arm ."We might as well get it over and done with." Still scowling at the back of Naruto's head Sasuke allowed his friend to pull him towards the doors only to shake him off before they got inside which only made Naruto smile even more. Pride, it's a terrible thing and Sasuke didn't want anyone to think that he needed to be coerced into coming into work so Naruto found himself hurrying after Sasuke as they joined the, now few, people waiting for the lift.

Sakura left her home slightly later than Sasuke as she didn't have to walk so far she enjoyed walking through the streets enjoying the crisp morning as she made her way to work wondering what surprised today would have in store for her. That was one of the main reasons she loved her job as you never quite know what life would through at you.

She smiled and nodded at the few people she passed that morning. It was always the same the harassed woman with her two children in tow trying to persuade her children to get into the car for a journey to school who always looked so relieved at the form of adult contact in Sakura's greeting that when it first happened Sakura thought she would throw herself at the fence in order to have a decent conversation. Of the father of the children there was never any sign maybe we worked nights or overseas Sakura didn't know but the ring on the woman's finger and her smiles despite her exasperation over her kids made Sakura thing she was happily married.

There was the serious looking man with a brief case on his way to work who only spared her a glance and a flicker of recognition in his eyes as Sakura said her good mornings, the older woman who spent her mornings in her garden sorting out the flowers and when Sakura had time she stopped for a chat and admired the blooms. A slam of a front door indicated, just on time, a sour faced teenager walking to the bus stop passing Sakura quickly with their music turned up so loud that she could hear the thud-thud of the bass line as they passed.

Sakura stopped outside the surgery she worked in and looked up at it similar to the dark haired individual who was not too far away but instead of looking up at a glass building built to look imposing; composed of sleek lines cutting a harsh but domineering figure in Konoha's city skyline. The doctors surgery where Sakura worked was made of a red-orange brick with a sloping roof and despite the colder weather setting in there was a riot of colour outside in the flower beds and around the windows.

She pushed open the door and saw that Temari and Tsunade were already sitting down over a coffee and talking before they opened for the day. They both greeted her cheerfully enough but there was still that look of concern in their eyes that had been there for the last few days that made Sakura think that they expected her to start crying or acting hysterical because of Sasuke.

"Good morning," Sakura half sang as she put her coat and bag away.

"What's got you so cheerful this morning?" Temari demanded looking blearily over her mug of coffee.

"Can't I just wake up in a good mood?" Sakura asked and Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"Just ignore her she's in a bad mood, I'd expect her to be grumpy all day if I were you." Sakura looked at Temari intrigued.

"Why did something happen?" She asked.

"My brothers are driving me up the wall," Temari said. "There's some big company reorganisation going on and it's stressing them out which is just rubbing off on me. If I hear one more word about staffing or what's going on in finance or, I don't know, marketing I'll end up screaming in their faces."

"It'll be over soon wont it though?" Sakura asked and Temari snorted before taking a sip of her coffee.

"But then they'll start hiring or maybe even having to debate over the merits of plastic plants or real ones in the new reception area."

"Plastic all the way," Tsunade said firmly and Temari gave her a strange look, "then they don't have to hire anyone to water them or have loads of dead greenery scaring people off." Temari smiled slightly.

"Well if it ever comes up in conversation I'll definitely put that idea forward." She said and the exasperation was evident in her voice and Sakura giggled. They fell silent and when it came to the right time to open they separated, leaving Temari at the reception to start work.

Sakura's first patient greeted her cheerfully and would have happily told her about their entire life if Temari hadn't interrupted saying that her next appointment was waiting outside and had been for the past fifteen minutes. However in a way it was a blessing in disguise as although she had a few patients grumpy at being kept waiting Sakura's efforts to get back on schedule kept her mind from drifting and dwelling on other things.

But unfortunately all Sakura's hard work paid off and she had a quiet afternoon and her thoughts inevitable turned to Sasuke as she wondered how he was and what he was doing with his time now. She remembered when he had suddenly decided to meet her after work and that she had felt a glow of pleasure as she introduced him to Temari and Tsunade.

Sakura slumped back in her chair. She was a hopeless case she realised, after all of her efforts and the decision to banish Sasuke from her mind and move from an irritating fort of self pity to a normal satisfactory life he still managed to haunt her thoughts. As small reminders of him came into her day and a small voice in the corner of her mind was suggesting that Sasuke didn't seem to be that happy to break up with her.

She shook her head furiously as the next patient knocked and she welcomed them to her office as her determination renewed itself and she banished all what ifs, if onlys and wishful thinking from her mind.

Sasuke's day at work seemed to be getting progressively worse. Despite the huge workload Itachi had piled on their department Naruto had still managed to find the time to hang around Sasuke's small office for an hour filling the small space with his chatter as Sasuke tried to ignore him as he inevitable moved on to his favourite subject – Hinata, and how happy he was with her.

After a few minutes of that Naruto seemed to realise that he had put his foot in it so to speak as Sasuke's face was completely devoid of emotion but his hands, previously resting lightly on his desk were clenched into fists.

Naruto gave him a lopsided smile and ran a hand through his hair anxiously wondering how to broach the next subject without Sasuke shutting him out completely.

"Sasuke," Naruto said quietly and Sasuke glanced up at him as his hands relaxed slightly and he reached for some of the notes that had been left on his desk. "I know you're only trying to protect her in your own way." Naruto continued and there was a slight crunch as the paper in Sasuke's hand was slightly screwed up as he suddenly clenched his fist again which was again the only sign of his anger. Naruto sighed at his unwillingness to talk and express his feelings.

"It's just," He paused slightly searching for the words thinking of all the soft conversations he had had with Hinata talking about the two of their friends. "Do you not think that she'd be better off with you, she's really unhappy now." Sasuke shrugged.

"She'll get over it in time." He said tightly and walked out of the office leaving Naruto behind looking exasperated at his friend's behaviour.

"Yes but will you?" Naruto muttered to himself then the slightly crumpled bit of paper on Sasuke's desk caught his eye and he picked it up to read it. It was a note from Itachi requesting to see Sasuke.

Naruto frowned at it and glanced at the clock, it was near the meeting time which would explain where Sasuke went but Naruto couldn't help to wonder what fresh problems this would bring and that by slowly pushing Sasuke towards breaking point he wondered what Itachi hoped to achieve. He couldn't just be toying with his younger brothers life out of amusement could he? Naruto thought but then again, he reminded himself, there was that time all those years ago that still seemed to be ingrained on Sasuke's memory the night with the storm and the hospital and neither brother knew what Naruto had seen that day.

People pitied him for not knowing his parents but, Naruto thought, he'd rather live not knowing about his family than in the darkness that Sasuke's family pushed him into. Blissful ignorance was a lot better than the weight of family responsibilities and pressure. Naruto was able to do what he wanted with his life and only live up to his own standards whereas Sasuke still unconsciously strove for some recognition from his father and had ended up bound to his family's company.

Sasuke opened the door to Itachi's office without even bothering to knock and saw that his brother was in front of the computer with the lights off, the only illumination coming from the glowing monitor. Despite wanting to being able to see somewhat and more to annoy his brother Sasuke flicked the lighted on and walked into the spacious office. Itachi frowned at him as Sasuke sat down but the younger man felt some sort of vindictive pleasure as Itachi had to squint slightly as his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness of the room.

"You wanted to see me?" Sasuke asked coolly and Itachi frowned.

"Oh you got my message then?" He said lightly but his tone of voice suggested that he'd rather Sasuke missed the message and then Itachi would have something else to use against him as supposed 'sloppiness' in his work.

"Luckily I found it just in time," Sasuke said flatly and Itachi nodded and didn't say anything more.

Sasuke sat with his arms folded in the chair opposite Itachi a slight frown on his face as he wondered why his brother called him here in the first place, it couldn't be anything to do with his performance at work; he'd made sure of that there was nothing wrong with the work he had submitted.

"Well I ran into someone interesting the other day." Itachi said finally and Sasuke's frown deepened even without the obvious hostility between the two brothers Itachi was never one for light conversation. "I had a charming conversation with Sakura," he continued and noticed with delight that Sasuke's posture seemed to stiffen as if he was frozen in his seat. He smiled slightly as Sasuke narrowed his eyes and despite not saying anything Itachi could tell that he wanted to hear the rest of this story.

"She's a wonderful girl isn't she?" Itachi said conversationally and then made a thoughtful humming noise and there was another pause as Sasuke wished several hundred painful deaths on his brother. "Shame really," Itachi continued. "She seemed to be in such a rush we couldn't really talk properly but there's always next time."

He looked across as Sasuke sat stony faced opposite him. "Anyway could you make copies of these and make sure there's a copy in each department?" He gave Sasuke a thin smile daring him to say that Itachi should get someone else to do it as Sasuke was definitely above these kind of menial tasks in the company's workforce.

However Sasuke said nothing and just took the papers and left the office shutting the door firmly behind him. Itachi watched as Sasuke turned and walked down the corridor in the direction of the photocopier.

Sasuke sighed as he looked through the different office memo's he'd been given and put them into the photocopier viciously jabbing the correct buttons to get the machine to do what he wanted. What little relief he had felt at Sakura's quick get away from Itachi's clutches had been short-lived when he had suggested that he'd find her at a later date.

He slammed his fist down onto the machine and glanced down at the message flashing on the screen declaring that it wasn't going to work due to a paper jam and by the way it didn't have any black ink anyway. Sasuke growled in frustration as he brought his fist back down onto the photocopier and was momentarily satisfied when he heard a crack as the glass broke under the force from the blow. That was of course until the guilt set in.

"These things always make a bad day worse don't they," Sasuke jumped guiltily as he heard a voice and turned to see an amused woman standing behind him.

"I'm sorry?" Sasuke asked and she smiled at him.

"Whenever you're having a bad day this piece of machinery has to jam or something just to make it worse although," her eyes travelled over the photocopier. "I've never quite hit it that hard before," Sasuke glance down at the cracked glass on the machine and shrugged.

"It's not like they can't afford a new one."

"As the boss's son should you do that though?" She asked and Sasuke looked at her sharply, she raised her hands slightly as if to say she wasn't blaming him for his position in the company. "I'm just saying."

"Why not," Sasuke shrugged, "It's not like they can make things any worse." He turned on his heel and began to walk off leaving the stupid memos behind him.

"Maybe you need a change," The woman shouted after him and he half turned to look at her.

"What?"

"I don't know do something new, get a new job and destroy their stuff instead." She said half laughing and Sasuke gave a wry smile.

"As if I could do that."

"You never know until you try." She offered and Sasuke frowned at her.

"Who are you anyway I don't think I've ever seen you before."

"Me?" She looked at him in surprise. "I'm new, this place is a lot bigger than the Sabaku offices I used to work in although they are expanding." She added as an afterthought and then saw the expression on Sasuke's face. "Oh, sorry, I'm Matsuri." She extended her hand for Sasuke to shake out of habit before realising her foolishness as he was now several meters away. Sasuke smirked as she lowered her hand looking sheepish before walking over to her and offering his own for her to shake.

"You already know this but I'm Sasuke."

"Nice to meet you Sasuke," Matsuri said with a smile and Sasuke sighed. "Is everything okay?" She asked cautiously.

"Somehow you just reminded me of someone then," Sasuke said with a sad smile of his own. Matsuri's eyes travelled from Sasuke face to the damaged photocopier which took the opportunity to spark slightly.

"It's never too late for a change right?" She said hesitantly as if she shouldn't be offering her opinion, Sasuke shrugged once again.

"It can be sometimes," He released her hand and turned to leave again Matsuri watched him turn the corner and frowned slightly. If working for the Uchiha companies was supposed to be the dream job that everyone aimed for and its competitors aimed to mimic them then why did the boss's son give the impression that he hated to work there. She shook her head slightly, it wasn't her business anyway, and went back to her job determined to do her best and prove that she was able to work in a high powered office.

Sakura's day passed quickly among smiles and the meaningless chatter of proud parents and their children in what Temari had, perhaps a tad cynically termed, the happy baby hour as the waiting room was often filled with cries as young children were forced to do things they didn't want to, like face the terrible truth that scratching chicken pox did not make them go away.

As the day wound to a close Temari gladly changed the sign on the door to read _closed_ and Sakura left her office stretching out the kinks in her back to see Temari and Tsunade as the gentle smell of baby powder still lingered in the air of the reception area.

"What I really hate," Temari was saying. "Is the mothers that can't seem to understand why you don't have about fifty children yourself." Sakura smiled as she walked over to them.

"Why did you get asked if you had any children again Temari?" She asked.

"About ten times, do I look like the maternal type to you?" Temari demanded.

"I think you'd be really over protective if you had children," Tsunade said and Temari frowned at her. "Especially if you had girls you wouldn't let any boy come near them"

"I have no plans to have children besides I wouldn't want them to be caught up in my families insane problems," She muttered and Tsunade grinned.

"So you've at least thought about it," She said and Temari glared at her.

"You know I'd have no patience with kids," She snapped. "And if you want to be godmother to one of our children then you'd be better pinning all your hopes on Sakura," Sakura blinks at them both as they turned to look at her.

"Me?" She asked, "the only way I'd have children at the moment is immaculate conception." Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"You two are hopeless. Sakura when you finally end up thinking more rationally you'll realise that getting dumped is not the end of the world and Temari if you ever decide to have children, with you and your brothers around they'll be well protected and fine from any insanity your family might try to inflict in them." Sakura and Temari gave Tsunade a suspicious look.

"How come you give advice of relationships and children so easily when you have none of your own." Temari demanded, phrasing the question in Sakura's mind a lot more bluntly than she would have.

"Just because I'm not married already doesn't mean I haven't experienced love and besides I've decided to wait until the right person comes back," She shrugged slightly. "He travels a lot and as you can see I've been waiting a while." They fell silent for a while and were disturbed by a knocking of the door.

"Can people not read the closed sign?" Temari said irritably as she made her was towards the door, she paused when she opened it to get rid of the person but to Tsunade and Sakura's surprise she stepped aside.

"Is Sakura still here?" Ino was asking as she walked in and then she gave a broad grin as she saw her friend. "Hello, I was just in the area," she said brightly and Sakura frowned.

"Ino are you checking up on me?"

"Oh no," Ino laughed breezily. "Why would I do that when you so obviously don't appreciate my efforts to make sure you're still relatively sane."

"So what are you doing here?" Sakura asked and to Ino's credit her smile didn't slip at all.

"As I said I was in the area and I thought you finished work sometime soon so I wanted to see if I could persuade you into letting me come home with you for a cup of tea and a chat," She smiled. "It's been ages since we had a good gossip."

As Temari and Tsunade recognised this as Ino's particular way of making sure Sakura couldn't dwell on Sasuke, Sakura remained unconvinced and was sure that her friends were taking shifts to check up on her. She was sure she'd seen Tenten walk past the surgery even when she lived and worked on the other side of town. Then again maybe that was paranoid speaking there were plenty of young women with long dark hair and eyes and she'd only seen them at a glance.

"I'm sorry Ino but I was going to head through town. It's still a nice day so I thought I'd enjoy it while the sun was still out."

"Can I walk part the way with you then?" Ino asked. "I haven't got my car so I need to go that way to catch the bus anyway." Sakura sighed before nodding.

"Why not we can at least have our chat right?" Ino smiled at her and Sakura gathered her things, she said her goodbyes to Temari and Tsunade who assured her that they wouldn't stay too late talking and would lock up soon.

Outside with Ino Sakura had the uneasy feeling that her friend was going to corner her about something. They walked for a few moments in silence before Ino started asking about all sorts of different people Sakura half remembered from school and what they were up to now.

"Sakura," Ino started hesitantly. "About before, I'm sorry, I know I pushed you too much but I was just worried about you in my own way." Sakura sighed.

"I know but –"

"Did you really love him?" Ino asked cutting across what Sakura had been about to say.

"I don't know, maybe I could have. There were times that even though we'd been talking for almost a year I felt that I didn't really know him that well. He was never really that open with any part of his life." Ino looked thoughtful.

"But with a bit more time?" Ino asked tentatively.

"I think I would have really loved him." Sakura said and Ino sighed.

"I know most of you think I can be really fickle about relationships but if Shikamaru left me I'd be devastated. So I promise that we'll all lay off you a bit and let you work through this on your own, but you have to promise to come out with us all soon." Sakura smiled gratefully at Ino and nodded her agreement. "And remember that we're always here for you if you need to talk."

Again Sakura nodded as she felt unable to speak, all of her feeling on Sasuke seemed to be trying to burst out of her and to her horror she could feel a few tears spill out of the corner of her eyes. She felt Ino wrap her arms around her.

"I wanted to spend winter with him," Sakura whispered. A few more tears making their way down her face and Ino frowned unsure how to react to this unusual statement she rubbed her hand up and down Sakura's back as her friend regained her composure.

Sasuke looked up at the clear blue sky that afternoon as he left the office more or less on time for a change, he paused at the cross roads before turning in the opposite direction to home and began to walk towards the bustling streets in the town centre as people hurried about doing last minute shopping. He had a strange resentful feeling towards an old couple as they walked hand in hand, side by side as if they didn't have a care in the world as only a few months ago he had experienced the same feeling towards a completely special girl.

Sakura walked through town to try and clear her head from the conversation she had had with Ino after much persuasion Ino had left to catch the bus and left Sakura in peace as she tried to sort out her thoughts.

After her conversation with Ino she began to wonder if it was already too late for her and that she was already in love with Sasuke. Sakura frowned and she looked up to look for traffic as she went to cross the road and her heart stopped briefly as she saw a young man with dark hair but she shook her head she would have been amused at her foolishness if it wasn't for the slight pang of grief as her mind instantly leapt to Sasuke. She wondered how long this so called natural healing process would last and if she'd be able to hear Naruto accidently mention Sasuke's name in passing without hiding her need to cry.

On the other side of the road Sasuke kept looking determinedly ahead despite the burning desire to turn and run towards her, to apologise and warn her about Itachi. But Sasuke didn't even allow himself to look at her instead he thought about work and his brief but interesting conversation with Matsuri, it was never too late for a change or so she had said and a small part of him hoped she was right.


	13. Chapter 13

Several weeks had passed since Sakura's heart stopping moment when she had thought she'd seen Sasuke in town. It had been the first time she seen him, even caught a glimpse of him since that time in the park. It was then when, as the more poetic would put it, her world had crumbled, but over the weeks she had gotten used to the Sasuke-shaped hole in her life and could put up with it until the pain had become a dull ache still present but ignorable and therefore bearable. But then even the suggestion of Sasuke had brought that dull ache into a burst of fresh pain and the equivalent of an emotional thunderstorm inside her.

It was when Ino noticed that Sakura was slipping into an even worse case of lovesickness that she reminded Sakura of her agreement to come out with everyone and was determined to push Sasuke out of Sakura's mind for a few hours if she could.

It was Ino's persistent reminders of her promise that inevitably led to Sakura pulling on a fairly nice outfit, she couldn't be bothered to dress up too much, and driving up to Ino's house as she insisted that they all came to visit her for a drink and a chat, and she had added that it would be easier than trying to chivvy Shikamaru out of the house to a pub.

As Sakura walked up the driveway to Ino's house she old hear voices through the open window and the sound of laughter she paused outside before ringing the doorbell determined to seem as if she was her cheerful self so Sakura straightened out her shoulders, plastered a smile on her face and rang the bell.

The door opened and she saw that it was Shikamaru who opened it and she was greeted by the bored expression on his face.

"It's not that bad is it?" Sakura asked jokily and Shikamaru made a strange noise.

"It's all Ino's friends at the moment I'm sure she told everyone I might want to talk actually to to come half an hour later," Sakura smiled at him

"Or maybe they're running a bit late. Naruto has no awareness of the time and won't turn up for a while if he's not coming with Hinata anyway and Kiba or Chouji aren't that organised either." Shikamaru sighed. "Shouldn't Neji be here?" Sakura asked as Tenten's husband was always punctual and she had already heard Tenten's voice from the other room.

"Ha," Tenten cut in as she overheard that last remark on her way to the kitchen. "Apparently there's some big merger going on so he's chained to his office again." She sounded slightly annoyed at her husband's dedication to his job or his over enthusiasm as she had once termed it while she was feeling slightly bitter and had consumed over half a bottle of wine. Sakura gave her a sympathetic smile as Shikamaru looked slightly shocked.

"Does Ino talk about me like that when I'm not there?" He asked.

"Please, it's not like your more married to your job than to Ino is it?" Tenten said.

"Or married to Ino at all," Sakura added as Shikamaru's ears turned slightly pink with embarrassment.

"Shikamaru who was that?" Ino's voice came from the living room. "Don't make them stand in the hallway let them come in," Shikamaru rolled his eyes as Sakura giggled.

"How do you put up with her?" She asked.

"The same way you do," He said and Sakura grinned.

"Touché, but I don't live with her." Shikamaru smiled at this comment and guided Sakura into the living room leaving Tenten to go into the kitchen.

"Sakura!" Ino cried and launched herself at her friend pulling her into a crushing hug. "I'm so glad you're here." Sakura felt herself get swept up in her friend's enthusiasm as she told Sakura everything they had discussed so far in case Sakura felt that she was missing out.

She smiled as Ino told her about the different scandals which had happened at her workplace naming people and places that Sakura didn't know, there was a slight falter as she touched on Naruto and Hinata's three month anniversary for being together as Hinata flushed with pleasure at her boyfriends grand gesture of a dozen roses looked slightly anxious as if she feared Sakura would suffer an emotional break down at the slightest mention of her ex-boyfriends best friend.

When Ino had finished telling her all about her plans to make Shikamaru take her on holiday next year for the summer, as the man himself looked distinctly uneasy at all the places Ino claimed she wanted to see and do, it seemed that Sakura was up to speed on all they had discussed so far and Sakura was feeling the beginnings of a pressing need to have a large drink to get through the night.

As Sakura stood in the kitchen pouring herself a large glass of wine and praying it would taste halfway decent she heard the doorbell again and Naruto's loud apologies for being late. She could even hear the whole excuse as he declared that he had lost track of time and that didn't Hinata look nice tonight. With a small smile at how obviously smitten new couple were with each other Sakura drifted into the living room to greet Naruto and saw that Chouji had arrived as well and was now engaging in a quiet conversation with Shikamaru.

"Why are you all in the hallway?" Ino demanded as she stood in the doorway her hands on her hips, you know you guys are all allowed further into the house."

"It's good to see you Ino, here," Chouji said giving her a kiss on the cheek and a bottle of wine Ino smiled at him and thanked him as she ushered everyone else into the living room.

"Is Kiba not coming?" Sakura asked as she realised that some of their group were missing, Ino shrugged slightly.

"Apparently not," She said.

"He had plans with Shino I think." Hinata said and there was a pause as they all suddenly realised that Shino wasn't there either.

"Well at least he won't be too upset that I forgot to invite him," Ino said with a nervous smile, knowing that Shino was able to hold a grudge for a long time when people forgot his presence.

"He's so touchy about things," Naruto muttered. "He's still sore about me not recognising him in the street," Hinata gently rubbed him on the arm.

"Did you not realise when I was talking to him?" She asked and Naruto pouted.

"He had some kind of hat on I couldn't see his face anyway," He protested weakly and Hinata smiled warmly at him.

"Shino's just a quiet, private kind of person anyway he's not really a fan of big gatherings like this." She said and Ino shrugged again.

"It's not my fault the guy has a habit of blending in with the wallpaper," She said bluntly and Hinata looked shocked.

"How do you know Shino so well anyway?" Naruto asked Hinata.

"We met at university," She said softly. "We lived together with Kiba and I ended up getting along better with them than the other three we lived with." Naruto nodded thoughtfully.

"So you've all known each other for a long time then really," He said and Hinata nodded.

"Well Sakura and Ino have probably known each other the longest," She said

"We grew up together," Ino said. "And so did Shikamaru and Chouji didn't you?" Chouji nodded and Ino continued. "We met Hinata and Tenten at school and from then on we all just stuck together."

"Wow, you all have such a history together," Naruto said. "My first and only friend has really been-" He paused guiltily and suddenly Sakura felt everyone's eyes on her.

"Sasuke, right?" She said and Naruto nodded.

"I mean I know other people like Neji and Shikamaru but Sasuke's come to be the one person I really depend on," He looked thoughtfull. "He tries to deal with too much on his own though so it doesn't really work both ways." Ino snorted.

"He's an idiot who didn't realise something special when it was in front of him. Sakura's my best friend and I allowed him to have the honour of dating her and he screwed up and hurt her so I will hunt him down and-"

"That enough," Shikamaru said, deciding to finally intervene. "We already know you're feelings on this matter."

"I'm sure Sasuke had his reasons, right Naruto?" Hinata put in diplomatically and Ino gave her a mutinous look as if she was siding with the enemy. In this case the enemy being the entire male half of the population.

"Sasuke wouldn't hurt someone unless he had good reason too," Naruto said to Ino. "He knows what it's like to be hurt by someone you thought you cared about." Sakura frowned.

"What's your best memory of Sasuke," Sakura asked and Ino looked annoyed at this sudden turn in the conversation as she hoped for an evening to keep Sakura's mind off Sasuke. "I mean I have so many memories with Ino but my fondest is my 18th birthday when we went out and after everyone else had left and it was just the two of us we sat in a 24 hour fast food joint and ate the kind of food that only seems a good idea when your drunk and talk about anything really." Ino smiled slightly.

"We talked about stupid things," She said. "And the night ended with the horrible realisation that we had to start revising for our exams." Sakura grinned at her.

"It was still a good night," She turned to Naruto. "What about you?"

"My story involves alcohol as well," He said finally. "Sasuke has quite a high tolerance for alcohol so we tried to push it to see how much he could drink." He smiled slightly at the memory, "his parents weren't too impressed when they found out and I'm convinced his dad still hates me for it."

"Is that what Sasuke's mother meant?" Sakura asked as she suddenly recalled something the older woman had said at Tenten's wedding. "That you two tended to, well from what I understand, misbehave when you were younger?" Naruto nodded.

"It was one of the few nights that Sasuke wasn't so guarded, he told me everything, things I had suspected he felt about his family. How many times he had thought about running away from home properly or even moving out and that he had decided to do so after university, which he did by the way." Naruto added with a smile. "And he also told me about that night when his parents were on a business trip." He paused slightly before adding, "but that doesn't really matter now, I was just glad that he felt able to confide in me." He grinned but it looked slightly forced.

"I think you're thinking too much about things," Ino said finally. "He said things that really hurt Sakura and you're trying to put some deeper meaning behind it. I still won't forgive him." She folded her arms suddenly.

"Sakura's your best friend, of course you're going to take her side in things but I know he has his reasons and I've seen him at work and it's as if he's broken his own heart as well." Ino shifted slightly awkwardly at this statement before she tried to defend her own point of view.

"If there was a problem then he could have always told her you know," She said.

"I wish they wouldn't talk as if I wasn't here." Sakura muttered to Hinata who smiled slightly.

"I don't think he would have told her." Tenten chipped in and Ino stared at her. "Well it's just that he comes from the same sort of upbringing as Neji and he never tells me if anything's wrong we have to go through a terrible guessing game which always ends with me going through his work diary to see what meetings he's had which may have caused a problem."

"Should you go through his stuff?" Chouji asked uncertainly.

"If he didn't want me to find it he should have hidden it better, putting it in a draw is not original besides as his concerned wife I feel I have the right to go through his things if I need to." Tenten said simply. "The point was that Sasuke probably hides what he goes through as well and not matter how close you were he wouldn't want to expose anything much that could be seen as a weakness. I mean Neji doesn't like it that I know he's ticklish." Hinata looked surprised.

"He is?" She asked and Tenten grinned wickedly.

"I do wonder sometimes." Sakura said and suddenly everyone's attention was on her. "In the weeks before he broke up with me Sasuke was, quieter than before and he did seemed troubled although I didn't really want to question him, when he broke up with me he said it was because he cared about me too much." Ino frowned at her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked and Sakura shrugged.

"Did you ever notice that Sasuke was, uh, quite different when you went to leave?" Naruto asked suddenly and Sakura frowned at him.

"What do you mean?"She asked, narrowing her eyes slightly, she could see Ino exchanging hurried whispered with Tenten to try and see if there was any way to stop this night from becoming a time to indulge Sakura's misery over Sasuke and her insistence that he wasn't a complete cold hearted bastard for dumping her.

"It's just that despite being quite a solitary person Sasuke doesn't like it when someone he cares about leaves," Sakura frowned slightly. "I told you a long time ago that Sasuke's relationship with his brother has always been rather fraught with difficulties," Naruto said eventually. "Itachi was always the preferred child and Sasuke had to work hard to catch up with him. Although Sasuke's always been intelligent he's worked hard for everything whereas Itachi's someone you consider to be 'naturally gifted'." Naruto realised at this point that he had the attention of the whole room and gave them all a tight smile.

"I'm only saying this as I don't want you all to think my best friend is a bad person. Sasuke's only admitted this to me himself once or twice and I don't really feel comfortable telling you all this." He looked up and held Sakura's gaze as she looked curiously at him. "I told you before that Sasuke and Itachi have quite a violent relationship," He said and Sakura nodded

"The truth it I'm not sure how it started but one time when we were about eight there was a storm and Sasuke's parents were on a business trip. There was this cat-" Naruto paused as he tried to sort out the jumble of thoughts in his head before continuing.

"I remember I was out late in a storm and I saw this black cat. I followed it into the gardens of Sasuke's house and I knew that it was just Sasuke and his brother at home as he told me his parents had gone away." He swallowed, "I'm not really sure what happened there was all this noise from the storm and shouting. Something about Sasuke being fed up and I saw Itachi hit him outright only this time Sasuke hit him right back but he was so much younger and I didn't know what to do. I still don't know if Itachi knew or even cared that I was there but later when the ambulance came I went with him and when his parents came back there were only a few bruises left." Naruto shrugged

"They don't know that it even happened. Sasuke doesn't want them to know as Itachi's always been the golden child and I don't really want to say anything either. Sasuke's mum's always been so kind to me and I don't want to hurt her in that way. Sasuke's very wary of his brother now and I think he didn't want to drag you into all of this Sakura."

There was silence as they all tried to take in what Naruto had just revealed, Hinata moved her hand up and down Naruto's back in a soothing gesture as everyone else looked slightly uncomfortable until Tenten broke the silence.

"And they say the age of chivalry is dead. If Naruto's right then he was just trying to look out for you." Sakura nodded.

"In that case I will admit defeat and say he wasn't so bad after all" Ino said "And I give you full permission to try and win him back Sakura. You two did make a kind of sweet couple." Sakura shook her head and Ino gave her a puzzled frown.

"After knowing all that I'm not sure. It's not that I don't want Sasuke back in my life I just think I'd prefer it if he could find happiness whether that involves me or not I think Sasuke deserves that in his life." Hinata smiled at Sakura in agreement and then slowly, awkwardly the conversation changed and moved on.

Sitting in a dark room with the curtains open a young man sat by the window his face lit up by the street lights below. Sasuke sat pondering his own future and the bright young new girl who had moved up in her life and entered the big world of corporate business.

Sasuke frowned "It's never too late for a change" she had said and despite everything Sasuke felt and strange hopeful feeling as he looked through the papers he had found on the Sabaku company.

It looked like they were having a large expansion into new markets and broadening their existing products to gain more customers and to Sasuke it seemed like a risky move but if they were able to pull it off then they could easily become a company able to rival his family's and the Hyuuga's in a few short years.

There was now a small light in his dark existence created by the girl who had smiled so cheerfully and her wide eyes innocence had reminded him so much of Sakura. He wondered if change was possible and as he stared at the form he had picked up he hoped that it was. He prayed that the girl, Matsuri, wouldn't be destroyed by his family's company and that she was right and that maybe next time he wouldn't feel he had to sabotage something he cared about to save it maybe he'd be able to hold on to the girl he cared about the most.


	14. Chapter 14

Only a week had passed since Naruto's revelation at Ino's house and Sakura found herself dwelling on Sasuke even more now. Something that gave Ino a temporary grudge about Naruto claiming that he was only encouraging her.

She found herself thinking of all the things he had hidden from her and put up with throughout his life and wished that he had felt able to confide in her. Although a small more rational part of her acknowledged that Sasuke was unlikely to share his problems with her if he didn't with Naruto but she still couldn't help wishing she could have done something. And the feelings of uselessness mixed with the strong desire to right the worlds wrongs led Sakura to through herself back into her work with a strange intensity that made Temari and Tsunade wonder if she was trying to force Sasuke out of her mind through overwork and sheer exhaustion.

Sakura knew that there were still hushed conversations about her state of mind among her friends and co-workers and about her being still unable to let go of her fond memories of Sasuke. But it had never been easy for her to get over the small amount of boyfriends she had seen over the years unlike Ino who, before Shikamaru, used to be able to go through men like they were tissues; to be used then discarded.

Sakura had always suffered several weeks of heartbreak before she moved on with her life and somehow despite its casual appearance her relationship with Sasuke had become more meaningful than all her previous relationships put together. It was strange the way things had turned out how someone she had only really seen in passing last year had become so important to her.

She thought back to the conversation she had had with Ino and Sai and to what she had said without thinking much to her friends shock. The idea that she couldn't get over Sasuke because she loved him was a strange idea that Sakura found hard to comprehend, she wondered if she did actually love Sasuke but it was unlike anything she had ever felt before for someone. A feeling that both frightened her with its intensity but she had always found herself finding a small piece of happiness in Sasuke's company whatever they did.

She had spent time trying to analyse her own feelings and although she knew that she had never felt this way before about anybody it had taken her a while to recognise her feelings for what they were. It wasn't an instant reaction to Sasuke's presence but she realised that over the months spent with Sasuke she had grown to love his company and had even grown to love him.

It was a bittersweet revelation as Sakura was filled with the warm knowledge that she had found someone she was truly, madly, and yes even, deeply in love with and this was combined with the sad fact that he had decided to completely cut her out of his life. Even if he was allegedly trying to protect her she'd rather he was by her side while he did so.

The day dragged slowly by and despite the amount of energy Sakura threw into her work every time she happened to glance up at the clock it seemed that only a few moments had passed. She even caught herself wondering if the clock on her wall had stopped but after checking the time on her computer and her phone she realised that she was just too impatient for the day to end.

She spent a quiet lunch break in the reception area as the whole surgery shut for a few hours listening to Temari and Tsunade talk and after a few attempts to try and engage her in conversation they let her sit and listen in as they talked amongst themselves presuming that Sakura was too tired or preoccupied for anything.

The afternoon passed Sakura by just as slowly and she didn't even have many appointments with patients to keep her mind occupied, eventually Sakura was allowed to go home as Temari and Tsunade stayed behind to lock up, and probably talk about her Sakura thought but she didn't mind it was just nice to be able to be out in the last few days of summer. So Sakura didn't walk straight home and instead began to slowly walk into town as she watched the actions of people around her amusing herself as she tried to guess what they were up too.

The pair to her left seemed like they were an old couple as the girl bickered familiarly with the man next to her who seemed to find amusement in winding her up. Sakura found herself watching the couple for longer than was necessary as they seemed to be happy with each other despite the outward appearance of an argument. The girl had red hair and her eyes were narrowed at her companion behind her glasses as he walked along with his arm casually slung round her shoulders as he held a bottle of water in his other hand.

Sakura smiled briefly as she made eye contact with the couple but she couldn't help being caught up in a wave of nostalgia as they seemed caught up in their love for each other and Sakura felt a small stab of envy as she wished she could share that with someone, okay not just someone, with Sasuke even if that was an unrealistic dream.

As she moved into the crowded town centre Sakura ducked her head as she passed the many people walking purposely home after work.

She almost collided with someone coming from the opposite direction and apologised before stepping to the side and out of their way, unfortunately they did the same and moved in the same direction and then in perfect unison again they both moved to the opposite direction.

Sakura made a noise that was not quite a laugh and expressed her slight embarrassment at the sort of dance she had performed in the street with a stranger she glanced up to apologise one more time as she moved out of their way and froze.

"Oh," Sakura said awkwardly when she felt that she would be able to use her vocal chords again. "Hello," She did her best to smile as she looked up at the face of Sasuke Uchiha who nodded his head as a greeting and Sakura was slightly relieved to see that he seemed just as uncomfortable with this encounter as she did. They stood in front of each other feeling a strange mix of nervousness and unease as many people walked past talking and laughing with ease.

"How have you been?" Sasuke asked eventually in an attempt to break the uncomfortable silence that had descended, knowing that it would probably be his fault if she said that she was having a terrible few weeks but Sakura shook her head slightly.

"I'm fine. I came to a decision about that a while ago," She said and offered him a small smile. Sasuke frowned slightly and said nothing until his curiosity finally got the better of him and Sakura seemed to be offering no explanation for her words seeming strangely content in his company despite everything that had happened.

"A decision?" He asked tentatively and Sakura turned round to face him with a small smile on her face.

"A decision," she said firmly, "that I'll be okay as longs as you're happy." Sasuke stared at her with a strange expression on his face.

"What?" He managed to say after trying to get his voice to work for a few minutes.

"I was thinking about it for a long time and I thought that if you decided to break up with me because you thought it was for the best. If it's what you really wanted and if it makes you happy then I can deal with it, and maybe I'll be able to find my own happiness later." She continued to smile brightly at him but Sasuke finally realised that there was something slightly false about it and he had a strange suspicion that she knew he wasn't happy about this at all.

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair in a futile attempt to work out his frustration he gave Sakura a sharp look as he realised she knew a lot more than she let on and wondered, not for the first time, why she was so ready to forgive him when even her friends who he had barely met seemed more prone to physical violence against his person than she was and Sasuke was sure that he had even seen Hinata give him the odd scowl. And that was _Hinata_ who Naruto enthused about and claimed that she was the sweetest person he had ever met and even with Naruto's usual poor judgement of people Sasuke had to agree that Hinata was usually a very sweet-tempered individual. And yet here was Sakura who was doing her best to smile at him as if he hadn't left her in the park to cry and she was still offering her concern for him. It was baffling.

Sasuke thought about his own happiness and he lingered briefly on that form he had posted a few days ago. Someone would have probably read it by now but he wasn't expecting anything much by it. It was strange how he had suddenly met two people who were encouraging him to find some sort of happiness in his life but what was cruel about it was that the last time he was even remotely happy was with the woman in front of him. The woman who he had tried to cut off all ties to in the hope of preventing his brother or the rest of his family from getting to her and now he wondered if he had failed at that.

"I saw you in the coffee shop the other day." Sasuke said with forced casualness as he remembered something he had wanted to get to the bottom of for a while, something that he had seen that had been nagging at the edge of his consciousness ever since. "You were with Ino meeting someone new I guess," Sakura frowned at him slightly before her eyes widened as she recalled who he was talking about.

"Oh Sai," She said, "You saw us?" Sasuke gave her a curt nod and she continued. "I'd never met him before you know what it's like when you just start talking to people." She shrugged lightly and Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"I wouldn't know I usually avoid those kinds of situations," He said and Sakura paused.

"Ah, of course." She said and they fell silent again as there seemed to be nothing more they were able to say to each other as they both tried to avoid the main issues between them.

Sakura was unable to bring herself to ask about their break up in case it was nothing to do with Itachi as Naruto guessed and Sasuke just wanted to move away from the confusing emotions that being with Sakura brought as much as he wanted to be with her.

He knew that, logically, it would only be a matter of time before Itachi managed to hurt them both but he couldn't help but wonder if spending more time with Sakura would be worth the pain part of him insisted that it was that he could maybe find away to leave Itachi behind him and he found himself unconsciously reaching out to her and when Sakura glanced back at him he froze and put his hand in his pocket instead.

"Well," Sakura said shifting uncomfortably, "goodbye then." Sasuke looked at her with a strange look in his eyes and Sakura attempted a smile and moved to the side to leave but Sasuke's hand shot out and grasped her upper arm preventing any further movement. "What?" Sakura asked bewildered at his actions and Sasuke moved forward quickly and pressed his lips against hers in a strange act of almost desperation.

Sakura stiffened in shock and before she had time to process this information, that Sasuke was actually kissing her, before she had time to respond, to act, to even think whether to push him away or not he moved away as quickly as he had moved towards her.

"Sasuke-" Sakura started and then she caught the expression on his face, a strange mix of torment, regret and wistfulness but before Sakura could even attempt to question him Sasuke turned and ran away, moving swiftly between the people walking the streets so Sakura had no chance of catching up to him.

Slowly, fearing that her legs would give way otherwise, Sakura backed up until she could feel the safe support of a solid wall behind her to lean on as she allowed herself to wonder at his motives. She knew that it would be foolish to wait and see if he would come back to her but at the same time she was filled with a giddy happiness at the knowledge that he wasn't quite over her yet either and that maybe Naruto had been right and it wasn't just wishful thinking.

She was a hopeless case she knew but maybe she could hold onto her feelings for Sasuke and wait a little longer.

She raised a hand to her heart and smiled softly as she felt it beating wildly through her clothes, she couldn't forget him that easily so she'd see if he'd find a way to come back to her any time soon.

Neither noticed the dark figure a few feet away watching the exchange with an small smile on their face but as luck would have it the figure was noticed by someone else who, out of concern, had followed Sasuke as he left the office that night.

"Don't you dare do anything Itachi," Naruto said coming up behind the older man. "I mean it, leave them alone." Itachi turned to face Naruto who stood, shoulders squared before him.

"I'm offended that you think I would even do anything, Naruto." Itachi said, drawing out the other man's name.

"You're up to something," Naruto said, "and whatever it is you better stop or I'll-" He didn't get any further as, before he could react, Itachi had moved forward and grasped Naruto's arm tightly.

"As if you could do anything to me." Itachi said softly and Naruto scowled at him as he did his best not to seem intimidated.

"Why are you trying to use Sakura to hurt Sasuke?" Naruto demanded. "They were happy together and you had to destroy the one good thing in his life, Sasuke loves her." Itachi smiled at Naruto and tightened his grip of his wrist seemingly satisfied when Naruto winced under the pressure exerted on his arm.

"That's exactly why," Itachi said calmly and as Naruto tried to understand this Itachi spoke again "because I know, unlike my father, that my brother has the potential to do better than me despite what my he may think of Sasuke's abilities. If he does find out then my brother has to learn that this family will crush anything, _anything,_ you hold dear if they even suspect that it's a hindrance to their cause."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto demanded, trying to pull away from Itachi as he glared at his the man who had caused his best friend so much trouble over the years. Itachi only smiled at his struggles. "This is stupid. Sasuke's stronger than you think and I have faith in him that one day anything you do won't affect him anymore." Naruto said proudly and Itachi chucked slightly.

"Your sentiments are so touching," Itachi said sarcastically. "But do you really believe that after all these years I'm sure Sasuke would like to avoid another trip to the hospital." He leaned closer to the boy and said softly in his ear. "I'd watch your step if I were you, you wouldn't want to be the cause of Sasuke's second hospital visit would you, I know how much you value your friends."

He release Naruto's arm and walked away as Naruto massaged his wrist trying to get some life back into it, he scowled at Itachi's retreating figure and hoped that someday soon Sasuke would pull himself out of the darkness that Itachi had pushed him into and find a new life and if that new life included Sakura then it would be even better Naruto thought grinning slightly. Although he thought that it was unlikely that Sakura would wait forever.


	15. Chapter 15

There was a strange wind in the air, bringing with it a bitter chill as the colder weather began to set in and leaves began to change into a riot of colours on the trees. It pulled a few remaining flowers off the trees as it swept through the branches, it upset bins and dragged boxes of recycling across the roads, but most of all it brought change.

The wind swept upwards carrying leaves and debris past the Uchiha office building where deep inside its President's youngest son was sitting in his office contemplating change. Sasuke stared at the paper in his hands feeling unsure of himself and his decision for the first time in years.

He had never expected things to get this far and yet here it was, the proof was right in front of him. The Sabaku company had completely disregarded his surname and background and had offered him a job based purely on his qualifications and business experience, the letter that had requested an interview had made that matter very clear.

What they didn't realise was that they were also offering Sasuke a new chance at life but now he wondered if he would be able to take it, whether he would be able to effectively cut off all his ties to his family and leave. He wondered if he would even be able to leave his family behind him as the Uchiha company had a lot of reach and weight in the business world which could have a negative impact on any company that offered any family members a job and he wasn't sure if the fairly new Sabaku company would be able to withstand what his family might throw at it.

Sasuke rested his head in his hands and it briefly crossed his mind whether he was over thinking the situation. The lure of freedom from his family and no longer being constantly overshadowed by his brother in particular was strong but he worried about who might have to put up with the brunt of his families wrath if he left, particularly what the ever ambiguous Itachi would do.

As Sasuke wrestled with his conscience the door swung open and Naruto stood briefly in the doorway before moving into his friend's office. He grinned cheerily at Sasuke before dumping a stack of papers onto his desk while retelling a story he had heard about someone in their department which Sasuke paid no attention too as his gaze was focused on the darker purplish marks on Naruto's arms which were clearly visible on his skin, as the other man had rolled up his shirt sleeves, unused to having something to hide. Naruto's voice trailed off when he realised what had captured Sasuke's attention and tried to move away from his friends stare but Sasuke moved to quickly and caught his arm.

"How did this happen?" Sasuke asked in a low voice.

"It's nothing," Naruto said and removed his arm from Sasuke grip he saw Sasuke's disbelieving look, "really I was just clumsy." Sasuke still looked sceptical and he took hold of Naruto's arm once again and examined the pattern of the bruising before placing his fingers over the marks until he was gripping Naruto's arm.

"Interesting don't you think how you managed to accidentally get a bruise that looks the exact shape of a hand," Sasuke said and Naruto grinned sheepishly.

"Ah well, I followed you when you left work yesterday," He said as cowered slightly at Sasuke's dark expression. "I only did it as someone else was already following you, I saw you and Sakura and that-" He paused slightly before skipping over the word 'kiss' "and I told him not to do anything anyway it's just a bruise it's fine we've both had worse right?" He laughed trying to dispel the tension that had filled the room as Sasuke tried to fill in the gaps in Naruto's story.

"Itachi." He muttered furiously and Naruto swallowed nervously as Sasuke's expression somehow managed to darken further it was a side of his friend that he didn't think he had ever seen before and it made him feel slightly wary, scared even.

Sasuke released Naruto's arm suddenly and strangely enough his attention was drawn to a letter of his desk, the same one Naruto's recognised as the one he was examining when he entered the room. Sasuke seemed to consider something before striding out of his office with a great sense of purpose ignoring Naruto as he tried to call after him.

Sasuke frowned as he walked through the maze of offices and corridors in search of something, no, someone in particular as people tried to scurry out of his way due to the furious air that surrounded him. He'd decided, he'd make the appointment mentioned in the letter today and he'd do his best to make changes in his life.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Matsuri who, bravely, despite looking rather harried, managed to give him a warm smile which he returned rather fixedly. For now Sasuke decided he'd fight for what he wanted and make sure that nobody he cared about got hurt because of him again.

Sakura smiled at her patient as she was enchanted by the many stories the elderly gentleman had to tell as she gave him a check up to see if his chest infection had cleared up. It was strange to say that he was one of her favourite patients but a poor immunity to cold and flu viruses had led to Sakura seeing quite a lot of one Mr. Takishima and, although they never met in the best circumstances for him, Sakura always appreciated the old man's wit and the advice he gave her. He stood up stretching slightly after sitting down for a long time and gave Sakura a twinkling smile.

"It's always a pleasure my dear," He said. "It's a shame I never meet you outside your professional capability, I almost wish we could have a conversation that isn't based about all my problems." Sakura stood up and took his coat of the hook before handing it to him.

"You'll be fine," She assured him. "There's plenty of life in you yet, is your wife meeting you?" The older man shook his head solemnly.

"She doesn't like to go out much anymore," He caught Sakura's expression. "There's nothing wrong, unless you can cure old age. She can't walk as well as she'd like to and I don't think you're that much of a miracle doctor." Sakura shook her head and gave him a smile as they walked to the reception area.

"You'll need to schedule a check up in a few weeks just to make sure the medicine I gave you is effective," Sakura reminded him.

"Yes, yes, I know. I'll do it now with this charming young lady here." Temari gave her best polite smile she used for dealing with customers. After coming to an agreement about a suitable time to return to the small surgery he turned to Sakura and gave her another smile. "Enjoy your life now you're still young, live a good life and when you get to my age any troubles you have will seem insignificant or won't be remembered."

"Home spun wisdom," Temari said as he left and Sakura frowned at her not sure if she was being sarcastic.

"I like Mr Takishima, he's nice."

"He's also right," Temari said. "Any broken heart will fade into insignificance with time," Sakura gave Temari a small smile.

"I know, but that doesn't mean it won't feel like the end of the world while it's happening." Temari gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I know but you'll come out of it a stronger person, isn't there some weird expression about suffering making a person." Sakura gave Temari a strange look.

"It was written by a sadist," She muttered and Temari grinned.

"Probably."

"Hey what are you two doing slacking off here?" Sakura turned to see Tsunade enter the reception area and Temari snorted.

"Like you can talk I had to try and fill in a backlog of several months of your paperwork," She muttered and Sakura gave Tsunade a sheepish smile.

"We were just talking," She said quietly.

"And without me? You know I'd like any excuse to put off some work." Tsunade said and Temari rolled her eyes.

"We know," She muttered and Sakura grinned slightly. Tsunade turned her attention to the window where they could see the faded colours of the garden outside, some of the petals from the flowers came loose in the wind and blew past the window.

"It looks like it's going to be a quiet day," She said and the other two nodded in agreement. The morning had been busy and filled with appointments and unless someone dropped by unscheduled it looked like the afternoon hours would stretch out before them with little to do but the odd bits of paperwork and filing.

Outside the wind blew shaking leaves of the trees slowly stripping them bare for the new off shoots that would grow when the warmer weather returned. The wind blew in from fiercely bringing a chill to the air that made people pull their coats closer around themselves they walked quickly, heads down, remembering that it was only a few weeks ago that the sun had shone brightly and the warm summer days were still apparent.

On the outskirts of town two figures walked hurriedly along the pavement, one with their jacket slung carelessly across their arm, seemingly oblivious to the cold and the other was walking slightly behind them but trying to catch up.

"Hey Sasuke are you sure this is alright?" Naruto asked but Sasuke kept on walking ignoring the voice behind him. "Won't you get into trouble? I mean you-well you know."

"It doesn't matter." Sasuke said finally and Naruto paused in shock as his friend finally answered him and then had to run to catch up with Sasuke's long strides.

"So what do we do now?" He asked.

"We?" Sasuke said blankly. And Naruto grinned.

"Of course you need someone to keep an eye on you." Sasuke stared at Naruto out of the corner of his eye before looking at the small building in front of them.

Although maybe describing it as small was unfair, he was used to the large expanse of the Uchiha offices and this place seemed tiny in comparison. However as Sasuke tried to removed the image of the Uchiha building from his mind he realised that this building was still spacious, it was a fairly modern building made up of glass and metal on the outside so they could see some people working at their desks and into the reception area inside.

"Wow," Naruto muttered as he followed Sasuke into the building. "What are we doing here?" He asked and then noticed that Sasuke was already talking to the young woman at the reception. "Hey!" he dashed over in time to see the receptionist blushing and giggling like a teenage girl as she handed over a few forms.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked as they turned away to the chairs that were set up in the reception and he caught sight of the weird expression on Naruto's face.

"You have a strange effect on women." He said and Sasuke shrugged disinterestedly although this seemed to have the opposite effect as Naruto leaned closer to have a good look at his face. "Could it be that you haven't noticed?" He asked and Sasuke moved away thrusting the clipboard of papers in his friends face.

"You're the one who said you were going to follow me," He said in response to Naruto's inquisitive look. "Fill this in," Naruto scanned the sheets of paper in front of him and frowned.

"An application form?" He looked up at Sasuke, "What about you?"

"I've already filled one in," Naruto stared at his friend in shock.

"Eh? When was this?"He shouted and out of the corner of his eye he saw the receptionist glare in his direction and Sasuke frowned at him.

"You're so noisy," Naruto scowled.

"You didn't answer the question," He muttered as he began filling in the form.

"I just filled it in out of interest," Sasuke said after a moment silence. "I didn't expect to get offered an interview."

"When is it?"

"Today," Sasuke said simply looking straight ahead at the people walking past the building outside. Naruto frowned at him again feeling slightly put out that Sasuke didn't tell him about any of this and then it was silent again expect for the faint scratching sound of the pen as Naruto filled in the application form.

"Hey Sasuke," He said after a while and Sasuke made a small grunting sound to show he was listening. "When it says previous employment and the job title and my duties or responsibilities what am I meant to put, what was I meant to be doing at work?" Sasuke stared at the sincere expression on his friends face as he tried to figure out if he was joking or not. When he finally deduced the fact that Naruto was, in fact, deadly serious and had no idea what he was meant to be doing the past few years he sighed.

"Just say you worked in administration," He said finally.

"Okay," Naruto said happily and carefully wrote it on the form. "So what were my duties and responsibilities then?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Sasuke muttered.

Deeper inside the Sabaku offices two men sat behind as desk shuffling through different papers. Every so often one of them glanced at the clock until an older woman entered and set a chair in front of the desk before scanning through her clipboard.

"We have a new applicant in the waiting room," She said. "I've looked through his application and I think he'd be a good candidate. He's still here if you have time to see him today." The two men nodded as she continued. "And you have someone to interview for probably one of the senior positions in the company a Mr Sasuke Uchiha," She smiled at the stunned expression on the older man's face. "Seriously it is him I checked, here's his application form and he's ready to see you anytime." She left the two men to their thoughts and eventually the younger of the two stirred looking up at the vacant chair with his hand buried in his red hair.

"Uchiha, huh?" He said darkly and his brother glanced at him.

"It's certainly going to be interesting", He said and the younger man nodded. "I'll ask Chiyo to send him in then," Kankuro said getting up and moving towards the door.

At the main entrance the young receptionist was still captivated by the two young men who had entered the building a while ago or more specifically with the taller, darker haired one of the two she watched them taking in the blond man's expressive gestures with his hands as he kept talking as the other sat with his chin resting on his hands as he seemed to send his companion increasingly hostile looks.

"How did you even hear about this?" Naruto asked, "I mean about all the jobs here?"

"I was told by someone at work that they were expanding, I think they've refurbished the whole place." Naruto nodded and fell silent again although Sasuke knew it probably wouldn't be for long.

"I can believe they even have plants here." Naruto muttered looking around the entrance of the Sabaku Company building and Sasuke sighed it wasn't even a minute before his peace was shattered again.

"They're not real," He said.

"Really?" Naruto leaned closer and poked one of the plants. "They're plastic," He sat back in his seat and folded his arms. "That kind of spoils it for me."

"Does it matter if they have plants?" Sasuke asked and Naruto shrugged.

"Not really," Sasuke rolled his eyes at the pointless conversation and they fell silent again. "So who was it that told you about the jobs?" Naruto asked and Sasuke glared at him. "Fine," Naruto muttered "I'll stop talking now."

"Mr. Uchiha?" A voice interrupted them and Sasuke glanced up to see a respectable looking woman approached them, "they're ready to see you now."

Sasuke nodded at the woman and stood up to follow her to the interview room he glanced back to see Naruto had twisted round in his chair to watch them leave, his arms were resting on the back and as he caught Sasuke eye he gave him a reassuring smile and Sasuke thought that it was nice to know that at least he had someone to support him.

Sasuke paused outside the room and the woman gave him an encouraging smile, he took a deep breath to try and steady his nerves and knocked on the door. He heard someone inside call out a reply and gently pushed the door open to see the two men inside one of them gave him a reassuring smile whereas the other just stared as he came in and took a seat.

They fell silent and Sasuke shifted uncomfortably as both the Sabaku brothers stared at him.

"So you are a Mr. Sasuke Uchiha correct?" The brown haired man who had smiled earlier asked and Sasuke nodded. "Okay, I am Kankuro Sabaku and this is my brother Gaara, let's have a look at your application shall we?" He said and the room was silent again as both brothers scanned through the application which listed all his qualifications and achievements and the previous positions he had held at work.

"Are you sure you want to work here?" The one with the darker hair asked the strange sound of his voice suggested that he suspected that is was some huge joke but Sasuke nodded.

"Yes I think joining a newly expanding firm would be a good career move for me." He said, it was a typical answer and they had probably heard something similar to it many times before and Gaara frowned at him slightly as Kankuro continued to question him

"You do know that we'll be dealing with things less complex than the Uchiha company does," Sasuke just nodded this time. "And that there'll be a large cut in wages moving here." Another nod and the two men exchanged glanced then the red haired one stirred.

"What makes you want to leave you job anyway?" He demanded and Sasuke paused as the other man stared at him he had a feeling that they were waiting for the truth and wouldn't accept a vague answer about it being a good job opportunity.

"Er," Sasuke started, "because due to certain," he paused searching for the right word, "circumstances I punched my brother in the face?" There was silence and the two men digested this information as Sasuke prepared himself to be shown the door and told never to return as they exchanged as significant look with each other.

"Well I suppose your experience at a job like this would be useful." The other brother began.

"We'd certainly value your input." Gaara said suddenly speaking up again and Kankuro nodded in agreement.

"As long as you don't make it a habit of punching you superiors." He said with a small smile that Sasuke didn't bother to return he was too busy trying to figure out what just happened.

"You can start on Monday," Gaara said firmly and Sasuke stared at them.

"Then you don't mind?" He said curiously.

"We can understand family problems," Kankuro said, "We have a few of them ourselves." Gaara scowled at this and gave his older brother a stony look. "Not that that's important," he added hastily and Sasuke got the impression that it was the younger of the two that was in charge.

"Thank you," Sasuke said.

"What made you come here then?" Kankuro asked, "there are lots of other businesses that are bigger than ours that would probably take you on." Sasuke paused.

"Someone mentioned your company to me in passing she seemed to speak highly of it anyway," He said with a shrug.

At this point the younger of the two brothers frowned at him, he was definitely the less talkative of the two and Sasuke found it strange that he'd show a sudden interest now after being seemingly bored with the conversation.

"Matsuri," He said and Sasuke was unsure how to respond.

"Yes," He said finally.

"Okay then, we look forward to seeing you in a few days just report to reception and we'll have some one go through everything with you we'll sort out all the paperwork then." He stood up and Sasuke followed suit and he stepped forward and shook both Kankuro and Gaara's hands before leaving.

"Interesting," Gaara said and Kankuro smiled slightly.

"I've heard rumours about Itachi Uchiha, as ruthless in his personal life as he is in business they say. He must have some guts to punch him in the face." He nodded towards the door to indicate that it was Sasuke he was talking about.

"What about this new applicant?" Gaara asked and Kankuro looked down at the application Chiyo had handed him earlier.

"A Mr. Naruto Uzumaki, he's well qualified and seems to have lots of experience in businesses like ours, ah, that's funny." He added as he read the form more closely.

"What is it?" Gaara asked.

"He's also from the Uchiha's business and has worked there for several years and left today as well it seems," Gaara frowned slightly.

"We might as well send him in as well," Kankuro grinned.

"I'll ask Chiyo to do it, let's hope she's not mucking around again she almost gave me a heart attack when I found her slumped over her desk pretending to be dead a few weeks ago."


	16. Chapter 16

It had been a strange jumbled few days for Sakura; days spent doing very little seemed to pass quickly and before she knew it the colder weather had set in for good. She thought longingly back on the days where she could walk to work without a coat, without an umbrella and without having to struggle against the cold wind. The weeks passed in a blur and Sakura had almost lost track of the time, the year had passed quickly in a whirlwind of work, her friends and most of all Sasuke, as a friend boyfriend and now she was coping with the gap in her life where he used to be.

It was on one of those bitter winter days that Sakura wrapped herself up in her scarf and coat and walked briskly into town that morning, determined to try and face the places that she had the strongest memories of Sasuke. She walked past the building that Sasuke had taken her up onto the roof of and smiled slightly as she could see Kakashi through the glass of the door reading a similar book to the one he had when she last saw him many months ago.

Sakura paused and looked back at the building much to the disgust of the people walking behind her who were forced to move around her. Sakura turned and walked towards the door to the building pausing once again with her hand on the door as she tried to collect her thoughts and gather her courage. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open smiling awkwardly at Kakashi as he glanced up at her.

"Oh it's you, I haven't seen you for a while," He said casually and Sakura shifted uncomfortably, as she wondered how much he knew or had guessed about her relationship with Sasuke.

"I guess so," She said and he turned his attention back to the book again leaving Sakura feeling even more awkward. "I was wondering," Sakura started and he glanced back up at her again, "can I go up to the roof?" Kakashi waved his hand towards the stairs and Sakura took his response as a yes so she headed towards the stairs, pausing at the bottom. "Thank you," She added before she started the climb up them.

Sakura walked out across the roof her hands buried in the pockets of her coat against the cold, she leant against the concrete wall that surrounded the edge of the building and looked out across the city taking in the view.

She looked across the bustle of traffic and people hurriedly walking about their business before thinking back to the few times Sasuke had stood next to her, when they had stood up there together with a hot cup of coffee, when she had teased him and they had almost kissed. However despite dwelling on those memories on the roof Sakura found herself smiling as she recalled being chased around the roof and she felt a considerable lightening in her heart where before she would have been weighed down by her feelings towards Sasuke.

It had been a long time since she had last seen him and there was only so long that any form of hope could sustain her but now, here feeling on top of the world almost, Sakura was able to look down at everything and smile. It was with some regret that Sakura turned away from the edge of the roof knowing that there were other places she had to go to before she was able to face Ino with a smile and finally get rid of all of her friend's suspicions that she was still pining after someone she couldn't have. She descended the stairs with a smile on her face and caught sight of Kakashi and her smile broadened as she saw that he was still reading.

"Goodbye," She said and he glanced up at her once again.

"Feel free to come by again," He said airily and Sakura hesitated, something that the older man seemed to notice as he seemed to smile at her. "Sasuke doesn't come by here anymore if that's what you're worried about, well, he rarely does anyway," Sakura flushed at the accurate assumption of her thoughts.

"Maybe." She managed to force out before leaving quickly, she already knew what her next destination should be and after a couple of minutes of brisk walking she found herself there. At the coffee shop.

It looked fairly full but Sakura still pushed the door open and heard the small bell ring to announce her presence as she joined the short queue of people in front. Sakura stood in the line in the coffee shop listening to the idle chatter and laughter of the other patrons around her. The place always had a nice atmosphere and the comfortable array of tables and chairs always meant that she and Ino were able to spend hours talking to each other every week.

Her attention was caught by the man waiting in front of her in the queue and she found herself examining him, he was dark haired and was reading a book as he waited, as he shifted position Sakura recognised the striking similarities to Sasuke in his face and realised that he was the man she had had a short conversation with here before with Ino. As the bell above the door to the coffee shop rang as someone left he glanced up and caught sight of her. He looked momentarily puzzled as if he recognised her but couldn't place from where and she smiled at him slightly.

"Sai isn't it?" Sakura asked and he nodded slightly. "We met in here before, I was with my friend Ino," He glanced up at her hair and gave her a smile.

"Oh yes I remember the angry one," Sakura was taken aback by this description of Ino but she supposed she had been then.

"I guess, are you still reading those books on people?" She asked and Sai looked guiltily down at the cover of his book.

"People are something I really don't understand, they act too irrationally," He said and Sakura smiled at him. "Like you for example, you left angrily last time I saw you and yet you're smiling now."

"People aren't so hard really, you can usually tell what someone's feeling by their expression," Sakura said and Sai looked interested, they moved up to the till together and ordered their drinks.

"How do you mean?" Sai asked and Sakura looked thoughtful.

"You know basic emotions like people smiling when their happy and so on," Sai frowned slightly.

"But I read this book where it said that people were able to offer a fake smile in order to accomplish something in different situations." Sakura shrugged slightly.

"You're getting more complicated now but am I right in saying this is to help you with your job?" He nodded and Sakura continued as they walked over to a spare table, moving some of the empty cups left by its previous inhabitants. "So if you work alongside these people everyday you'll be able to recognise when someone's not smiling sincerely."

"Hmm, I wonder if I could," Sai said thoughtfully and Sakura gave him a strange look.

"You can't be that bad with dealing with people; don't you learn this kind of thing as you grow up with other people?" She said and Sai looked at her flatly.

"I have no idea what's considered appropriate to say to people at different times, they way I grew up meant I had very little experience at talking to people but I need to get better to do well at work."

"Well maybe you should stop reading those things," Sakura said indicating the book on the table. "The best way is surely to try and talk to more people," She gave him a thoughtful look. "I wonder," She said, "it might be a strange request but would you accompany me somewhere?"

"What did you have in mind?" Sai asked.

"There's one more place I wanted to go to today anyway and if we keep talking maybe then things will get easier for you," Sakura suggested. "Some company would be nice anyway," She added.

"Where did you want to go?" Sai asked and Sakura smiled at him.

"Just the park," She answered him simply.

"Okay, if you think it would help," He said finishing off his coffee. "Would you like to go now?" Sakura nodded and stood up, she waited as Sai tucked in both the chairs and as they walked to the door he opened it for her as well and she couldn't help but giggle slightly.

"What?" Sai gave her a puzzled look, "This is polite isn't it?"

"Yes, it's nice," Sakura said after a moment's thought. "It's just something you don't see much anymore you took me by surprise," Sai looked across at Sakura as she walked beside him with her hands deep inside the pockets of her coat.

"Should we talk about things now?" He asked after it had been silent for a while.

"If you want to," She said and Sai paused.

"About what?" Sakura glanced at him and then realised that he was being serious.

"I don't know make small talk, we could discuss the weather?" She looked at the doubtful look on Sai's face. "No? Current affairs? Just little things really."

"Can I ask you why you want to go to a park?" He said and Sakura smiled.

"You just did," He frowned slightly and Sakura decided to take pity on him. "It's not just any park, I just feel I have to go there to say goodbye to someone." Sai looked thoughtful.

"Ah, your no-good-insensitive-bastard-ex-boyfriend," Sakura stared at him. "That's the way your blonde friend seemed to describe him after you left." Sakura narrowed her eyes slightly and Sai looked confused, "did I say something I shouldn't have?" Sakura sighed.

"That's not exactly something you should say in polite conversation but yes you're right it is about Sasuke," She looked at him suspiciously. "You know for someone who claims to have no people skills you're surprisingly perceptive."

They arrived at the park in silence as Sai seemed to be thinking over what she had said so Sakura led him first past the swings and then towards the bench she had sat and cried on a few months before. With a sigh she sat down on it an indicated for Sai to join her.

"What makes this place so special then?" Sai asked and Sakura smiled sadly at him.

"It's not a very happy memory," She said after a while, "this is where he broke up with me." Sai hesitantly reached out and placed a warm hand on her back.

"This is correct isn't it?" He asked and Sakura smiled at his attempts to comfort her.

"Yes, thank you," She said.

"Sakura?" A voice came from behind them and Sakura turned to see Naruto frowning at her familiar position with Sai.

"Naruto, it's good to see you." She noticed the strange look he was giving Sai and made a hasty introduction but whereas Sai made an awkward attempt at being friendly Naruto just frowned at him. "What are you doing here?" Sakura asked when the silence between them all became too uncomfortable.

"Just taking a walk," He answered shortly.

"How are things?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

"Fine," Naruto muttered as he continued to look at Sai, "how do you know him?" He asked suddenly and Sakura glanced across at Sai, who luckily hadn't seemed to taken much offense at Naruto's words.

"We met a while ago when I was with Ino," Sakura said slowly.

"What about Sasuke?" He asked and Sakura stared at him.

"This has nothing to do with Sasuke." She said and Naruto finally turned to stare at her and Sakura was shocked to see a hint of desperation in his eyes.

"But he-" He started and then Sai finally spoke.

"You know I'm not entirely sure if I'm meant to say anything here. I don't really know what's going on but even if you're trying to defend Sakura's ex-boyfriend I don't think you'll achieve anything, Sakura came here as she said she wanted to let go of all of her feelings so shouldn't you let her?" Sakura stared at Sai as he spoke and when he finished he glanced at her. "Was that right? Or shouldn't I have said that?" He asked and Sakura smiled.

"Yeah its true," She said softly before turning to Naruto. "Naruto I'm sorry, I know Sasuke's your friend and you seem to look out for him a lot and I want you to know that I'll always treasure my memories with him and that I still care for him even now. But if he won't come back for me it's useless I don't want to chase after someone who doesn't care." Naruto stared at her with a pained expression on his face.

"Bu you can't replace him, not yet." He said finally with a glance at Sai and Sakura stared at him.

"Naruto, I'm not replacing anyone, Sai's just a friend."

"Oh," Sai said in a soft voice next to her. "Friends, is that what we are?" And Naruto frowned at him.

"Or acquaintances if you prefer it doesn't matter." She continued, "Naruto I'll see you later at Hinata's right?" The man nodded and Sakura smiled at him. "Good, I'll see you later then." She said firmly and Naruto recognised it as his cue to leave.

"Okay, see you," He said and continued to walk down the path away from them.

"I'm sorry Sai he's not usually that rude," Sakura said turning to the remaining man next to her, he smiled at her.

"Its fine really, he was most interesting are there occasions when you can act like that then?" He asked. "Most things I've read emphasise politeness to people you've just met."

"Only in very special circumstances I think," Sakura said and Sai looked thoughtful.

"So what's the difference between a friend and an acquaintance?" He said and Sakura grinned.

"To be honest I'm not that sure myself," She said. "If you find out when you can consider someone a friend rather than just an acquaintance in one of your books then feel free to tell me."

It was later in the day that Sakura met Naruto again as, for a change, they had all made arrangements to meet at Hinata's for some tea, cake and lots of talking. Although Sakura was warily about what kind of reception Naruto would give her he greeted her with a sheepish smile when he opened Hinata's front door which she returned warmly.

"Um, Hinata's made all the cakes here herself," Naruto said starting awkwardly but gaining enthusiasm as he continued. "She really is an amazing cook have you ever tried the brownies she makes or muffins," Sakura grinned.

"It looks like you've started eating already," She commented and Naruto grinned back.

"Well I came early to try and help her but I wasn't that good at it, in the end she got me to butter some bread for sandwiches and then told me to sit down." He explained as he followed Sakura into the kitchen where they were greeted by the strong smell of baking.

"This looks amazing Hinata," Sakura said. "How long have you been working on this?" Hinata smiled at her and brushed the flour on her hands off on her apron.

"Good to see you Sakura," She said and surveyed her kitchen. "It only took an hour or so really." She said and Sakura looked at the plate of different muffins that she had set out.

"It looks good," Sakura said and she glanced up to see Naruto grinning at Hinata. The door bell rang and Hinata glanced up from the cake she was finishing icing.

"Ah, Naruto could you get the door please?" She asked and Naruto's grin widened.

"Of course!" He said and Sakura smiled at Hinata when he left the room.

"What?" Hinata asked giving Sakura a puzzled look.

"He absolutely adores you, you know that right?" Hinata blushed at Sakura's words which only made her smiled more.

"Maybe," She said shyly and Sakura leaned over to have a good look at her face.

"Don't be coy Hinata you must see the way her looks at you." Sakura said but luckily Hinata was saved from having to respond by the arrival of yet more guests.

"Sakura it's been a while." Ino said gleefully wrapping her arms tightly around Sakura's neck, she was followed by Shikamaru and Temari who looked bemused as Sakura tried to pry Ino off her.

"Hello Ino," Sakura said once she was finally free and she smiled at the other two.

Hinata ushered them all out of the kitchen and into the living room where she made Naruto help her carry the food through before serving everyone.

"It's nice to see you Temari," Hinata said. "You can't usually join us." Temari smiled slightly.

"I've been having to do all the cooking and cleaning at home recently as my brothers have been sorting out their company, luckily it's all over now so things have calmed down." She said and Hinata nodded. Naruto started at her frowning slightly as he nibbled on a sandwich and then his eyes widened.

"Ah! You're Kankuro and Gaara's sister," He said suddenly and Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Congratulations for figuring that out now," She said and Naruto shrugged.

"It's not like there's much of a family resemblance," He said trying to defend himself.

"And for that I am eternally grateful," Temari muttered. "I'd rather not look like a female Gaara."

"You don't quite have the chilling stare anyway," Naruto said and Ino looked at him curiously.

"That's right you have a new job now don't you, how's that going?" She asked.

"Well it's like they said at the interview I took a bit of a pay cut as they're a smaller company but the atmosphere at work is a lot nicer so it was worth it." He said and Ino nodded slightly.

"That's the main reason I enjoy my job it's a nice place and I love my co-workers the actual job itself isn't that great." She said and Sakura grinned slightly.

"I still don't believe that you have a real job Ino," She said teasingly and Ino looked offended. "You have the a job title that sounds like they've just strung lots of words together."

"It's because they hope that by giving my more words I'll be blinded by them and not realise how pointless my job is," Ino said with a laugh. "No, I'm kidding I don't dislike my work it's just that when I was younger I thought I'd be doing something more thrilling, you know a profession abseiler or even a porn star." Hinata chocked on her tea as Temari looked slightly amused at Ino's words.

"Has anyone actually wanted the job they wanted as a child, I never thought I'd be a medical receptionist," She said thoughtfully and Ino shook her head.

"Sakura's wanted to be a doctor for a while though," Hinata said and Sakura frowned.

"Yeah but that was when I was older I don't know what I used to dream about when I was younger," She said.

"I just wanted people to recognise me," Naruto said. "And to stay with the people I care about."

"Well if it makes you feel better Kankuro thinks very highly of your work and of the other one," Temari added with a glance at Sakura.

"You really don't have to worry anymore," Sakura said. "Sasuke is not a sensitive issue with me anymore; you don't have to act like you're walking on glass around me everything his name comes up."

"I guess so," Naruto muttered and Sakura realised that he was thinking of that morning in the park.

"I'm proud of him for making such a positive change in his life and I'm glad you're still there to look out for him Naruto," Sakura continued and Naruto smiled slightly. "By the way Ino, I saw Sai earlier, you remember him? From the coffee shop?" Sakura said and Ino brightened.

"Sai? I swear that man is emotionally stunted." Sakura grinned.

"He is, he had another book about how to react in social situations," She said with a grin.

"I should see if I can find him again and drag him into some kind of awkward social situation just to see how he copes," Ino said.

"How cruel," Sakura said leaning back in her chair. "Didn't we do enough damage last time when we got into an argument," Ino shrugged.

"Its fine," She said airily but Sakura continued.

"And then unfortunately when I was with him today I ran into Naruto and things got awkward there as well, I've probably made him more confused than ever."

"I thought you were okay with that now," Naruto chipped in, evidently listening into their conversation as his own with Shikamaru had died down.

"It might be nice if you apologised for being so rude to him if you see him again," Sakura reprimanded him gently and Naruto scowled.

"Just be as nice as we all know you to be Naruto." Hinata said and Naruto softened visibly at her words.

"I don't think I'd know him if I see him again, I can't really remember what he looked like," Naruto said airily and both Sakura and Ino frowned at him.

"Please he has such an eerie resemblance to Sasuke you can't not recognise him," Ino said and Naruto folded him arms childishly.

"Huh, Sasuke's much better." He said turning his head away from her and Sakura couldn't help but smile.

"Naruto how old are you again?" She asked and Naruto grinned and shrugged slightly before turning back to turn to Shikamaru.

"So what where you doing when you saw Sai again?" Ino asked and Sakura told her as they continued to talk with Ino feeling proud of her friend for finally letting go of her emotional burden, Temari turned to Hinata to ask about the recipe for one of the cakes, and the rest of the afternoon was spent light conversation and laughter.


	17. Chapter 17

Life had gotten considerably better for Sasuke Uchiha over the past few weeks. He found that he felt, not relaxed at work, as having a job in the highly competitive business world meant you always had to be on your toes but he was definitely less on edge during his working hours.

Sasuke had been gaining more respect and responsibilities within the Sabaku company and, unlike the norm, he thrived on the relatively little contact he now had with his family even if his mum had contacted him every so often his father was apparently furious for what he had done to Itachi and for quitting without any warning.

There was a knock at the door and Sasuke glanced up to see Gaara in the doorway he automatically sat up straighter in his chair even though he knew that Gaara didn't really care how any of his employers worked as long as they got everything done Sasuke had caught Naruto leaning back with his feet on his desk while going through some files once.

"Uchiha," Gaara said in way of acknowledgement as he came in "are you going to have the Yakushi reports finished by lunch?"

"Yes, I should have them finished in a few minutes." Sasuke said and Gaara nodded still looking at him.

"Good." He muttered eventually and Sasuke glanced down at the last part of the report he had to complete wondering if he should just continue with Gaara lingering in the room.

"Gaara!" A cheerful voice interrupted them and then Matsuri appeared in the doorway behind Gaara.

"What are you doing here?" Gaara asked and Matsuri smiled up at him.

"I got an early lunch and thought I'd come by to see you," She saw Sasuke at his desk and grinned at him. "Hello!" Sasuke nodded at her and her smiled widened slightly as she looked at him. "You seem to be feeling better now, well I haven't heard from anyone here that you've been destroying any photocopiers so I'm guessing that you're quite enjoying your job here." Gaara gave Sasuke a sharp look at this and Sasuke gave Matsuri a small smile.

"Yeah, I guess," He said as Gaara continued to frown at him slightly.

"You caused quite a stir when you left though," Matsuri continued. "You'll be pleased to know, or maybe you won't be actually, that the large amount of bruises you left on your brother's face has finally cleared up." She smiled again "It went through some quite interesting colours as it healed."

"Matsuri that's enough," Gaara said firmly and she shrugged slightly.

"Maybe I'll see you another time," She said and moved away slightly to wait for Gaara to join her.

"Send me the reports when you're done, I'm taking an early lunch." Gaara said firmly and Sasuke nodded he heard Matsuri calling Gaara to join her and the other man turned to join her outside.

"Come on," Sasuke heard Matsuri say. "You said you'd treat me to lunch the next time we met."

Sasuke frowned slightly as he watched Gaara leave the room wondering how he seemed so comfortable with his almost relationship with Matsuri. He talked about her often, well more frequently than he did anybody else and seemed relatively fond of her, if keeping in contact with her after she left their company was any indication of that.

As far as Sasuke could deduce from the odd occasion he had seen Matsuri when she had dashed in to the Sabaku offices on her lunch break they seemed to be closer than just a former boss and employee but anything else in their relationship was undefined. Although neither seemed bothered by this matter and Sasuke wondered how both parties could be so content without knowing. He shook his head slightly as he turned his attention to his work. It was none of his business anyway.

Sasuke finished up his work for the morning and glanced up to see Naruto hurrying past his door and realised that it was lunch time, puzzled but not upset that Naruto hadn't come in to harass him about going out for lunch Sasuke knew that he could now look forward to a quiet lunch by himself.

He stood up and moved over to the window to see the rushed figure of Naruto dash up to someone outside the offices and realised that Hinata had been waiting for him. Sasuke allowed a small smile to cross his face, at least she'd make sure he'd eat something decent for a change although having gone back to his previous routine of skipping a lot of his meals Sasuke knew he wasn't really the one to berate Naruto for having bad eating habits.

The smile faded as Sasuke watched Naruto waving his arms about looking contrite and by glancing up at the odd time displayed on the clock on the wall Sasuke guessed that he was apologising for being late. Hinata shook her head slightly and Naruto hugged her close and Sasuke raised his hand to press it against the glass as he watched Naruto grab Hinata's hand as the happy couple moved off.

Hinata seemed to be a great leveller for Naruto. He could be more serious at times and although he was still excitable and childish at times it was obvious that he was trying to act more responsible for Hinata's benefit.

He had even told Sasuke that he was trying to plan ahead and build a life with Hinata, adding slightly mournfully that it was only if she'd have him which meant that Sasuke had to try and reassure his friend that she would, something Sasuke wasn't very good at, as he had pointed out that he was an idiot for not noticing that the girl was already smitten with him for some unfathomable reason.

Nevertheless it seemed to do the job and Naruto perked up after that he seemed to look forward to having Hinata in his future and Sasuke found himself dwelling for a moment on the girl he once wanted in his. He wondered how Sakura was doing and a small part of him wanted to know if she missed him as much as he missed her.

Sasuke walked out of Sabaku offices and shivered slightly in the cold. Despite the crisp winters air Sasuke had come to work, as ever, unprepared for the colder weather so he folded his arms to try and stay warm as he walked briskly in order to ward off the cold.

Faster than he thought Sasuke found himself on the edges of town where he stopped by a busy chain of coffee shops to get something to bring the feeling back in his arms and legs, he frowned slightly at the hustle and bustle inside where the image of the store seemed to be printed everywhere and Sasuke was reminded of the smaller, local shop he used to frequent where it seemed friendly and gave a more personal service even if it did get noisy. And maybe he was slightly biased towards that coffee shop as that was where he met Sakura on a similar winter's day to this where the amount of people wanting a hot drink and shelter from the cold had led her to sit opposite him.

Sasuke sighed as he left the chatter of the people in the cafe behind him wondering about the ever present problem in his mind. There was no denying that he cared for Sakura but at the same time he knew he had pretty much burnt that particular bridge and that even with getting a new job it didn't mean he had escaped the mess that was his family all together. And as much as he wanted to be close to Sakura he didn't want her to be pulled into his own problems.

As if summoned by his own thoughts Sasuke saw Sakura turning a corner into a side road, probably cutting through to reach the town centre Sasuke walked towards the narrow road and watched the figure move away, it was definitely her Sasuke hadn't seen anyone else with that unusual hair colour. As he watched her move away from him feeling strange at the thought that he could easily call out to her and that she would be kind enough to talk to him no matter what her feelings were towards him Sasuke noticed another figure move up from one of the alleyways and move up behind her.

Sasuke stiffened as he thought he recognised the movement of the figure and finished his drink, dropping the empty cup in a nearby bin he began to follow the two people towards the town centre, as the neared the person following Sakura he realised the he had been right.

Although now was one of the rare times Sasuke wished that he had guessed wrong he saw that Itachi was behind Sakura and Sasuke wondered why Itachi was doing this, what interest he had in Sakura and what he had left to gain by following her.

"Hello Miss. Haruno," Sasuke moved back as he heard Itachi talk as Sakura stopped walking and turned to face him.

"Oh," Sakura said flatly, when she saw who was addressing her refusing to show that he had alarmed her, "It's you."

"Yes." Itachi said and looked at her calmly and Sakura folded her arms to try and create some sort of distance between them.

"Well?" Sakura asked. "What do you want?" Itachi smiled at her slightly and she involuntarily took a step back something Itachi pretended not to notice.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to have a quick chat is there?" Itachi asked, "especially as we've run into each other like this." Sakura looked slightly sceptical.

"An amazing coincidence is it then?" She asked frowning at him slightly and Sasuke felt himself being strangely proud of her.

"Please Miss Haruno do you really think you're special enough for me to follow you," Itachi said with a small laugh and Sakura only frowned at him tilting her head up to look him in the eye.

"You tell me." She said and then it was Itachi's turn to frown slightly as the conversation took a turn away from the direction he wanted it to be in.

Sasuke suppressed a small smile from where he stood half in the shadows and not noticed by either of them. Itachi had evidently not counted on her having such a temper but he smiled all the same. Sakura shivered slightly at the look in Itachi's face although she was unsure as to how a smile could unnerve her like that it seemed malicious somehow.

"You're insignificant to me." Itachi said with the smile still fixed on his face and it was all Sakura could do to stare at him as he continued bringing up years of insecurities and doubts that were buried deep within her. "It's pathetic that my brother was captivated by a ordinary, nothing special girl, it's not like you even have any looks to recommend you." He tugged her hair slightly and Sakura appeared frozen and she looked wide eyed up at Itachi, Sasuke frowned and took a step forward so he was standing directly behind Itachi but still neither of them had noticed him.

"You-" Sakura started but her voice failed her as Itachi took a step towards her. At this moment Sasuke decided to make his presence known and although he inwards cringed at sounding so clichéd there was only one thing he felt he could say at that moment.

"Leave her alone Itachi," Sasuke said clearly and the older man pulled away from her and stared. Sakura also turned to look at him although she looked more relieved to see him and even slightly happy. Itachi smirked slightly before turning back to Sakura and ignoring his brother.

"You see Miss Haruno you're only appeal is that it would kill my brother if he know I'd done anything to you." Sakura pulled away from him again and tried to gather her courage she set her jaw and glared up at the man in front of her.

"I won't let you do anything to harm Sasuke," She said through gritted teeth and Itachi looked surprised.

"Well, maybe you're more interesting that I gave you credit for but-" Itachi said he quickly reached out and before Sakura could react he had grasped her arm tightly and used his momentum to push her into the wall he smiled as Sakura winced at the force he had applied. "That really won't stop me, you need to back off now, run and never involve yourself in this family again." He hissed. After being tired of being ignored Sasuke clenched his fist he remembered Matsuri saying it had taken a while for the bruising to clear up on Itachi's face not so long ago and hoped that this time it would last a lot longer.

Sasuke stepped forward and grabbed Itachi's shoulder to pull him away from Sakura using the other hand to slam his fist into Itachi's face for the second time in so many weeks Itachi gave him a furious look and before Sasuke could hit him again, to get rid of all the years of pain and frustration, Sakura stepped forward took his arm. Sasuke lowered his hand and settled for glaring straight back at his brother.

"I think you should leave." Sakura said stonily to Itachi who shrugged, looking remarkably unruffled for someone with blood on their face and a mark that was already starting to yellow. Itachi turned on his heel and without another word left the two behind him in the quiet street. Sakura looked down at her hands which were still resting on Sasuke's arm and sighed.

"Someone always has to look out for me you know," Sakura said miserably and Sasuke glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "First Ino then you." Sasuke frowned at her slightly so Sakura felt compelled to continue, "I was always teased as a child, you know how cruel children are and with my hair colour I was an easy target and I was told that I had a larger than average forehead." Sakura frowned as she rubbed the offending item thoughtfully, "Ino said that's why I'm cleverer than her but I think that was always to make me feel better as she never tried too hard at school." Sasuke frowned and examined Sakura's appearance in silence he shifted awkwardly and cleared his throat which made Sakura turn her full attention on him.

"You're not that unattractive." He muttered and Sakura smiled at him knowing that it was as close to a compliment she'd get with him

"Thank you Sasuke," She said softly and she moved away from him. "Thank you for everything," Sasuke shrugged slightly feeling slightly uncomfortable at her praise.

"It's not like I did anything much," He said shortly. "I can barely protect myself from Itachi let alone another person." Sakura looked away from him.

"So that's how it is," She said and Sasuke stared at her. "I did wonder if it was all speculation or if there was any truth in it," Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her.

"In what?" He demanded.

"Naruto thought that you might have broken up with me to try and keep me away from Itachi, was he right?" Sakura asked and Sasuke frowned.

"It doesn't even matter now," He said and Sakura turned to look at him again and Sasuke was startled to see that she looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"It does matter Sasuke," She almost shouted. "Well at least it does to me, was there something I did or said that made you suddenly dislike me or did you waste a chance we had to find happiness on some stupid chivalrous gesture."

"Sakura there are some things you just don't understand," Sasuke said sounding frustrated.

"I understand better than you think," Sakura said and Sasuke knew she was right but at the moment wished it wasn't the case. "Naruto told me everything you know," Sakura said, "about that night-"

"Naruto needs to learn how to keep his mouth shut." Sasuke snapped and Sakura seemed rather taken aback, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry." He muttered after a while and they fell silent both unsure what to say to each other especially after Sakura's outburst and after a while Sakura decided to try and broach a more neutral topic of conversation.

"How's work?" She asked nervously. "Temari tells me that her brothers are very proud of their new workers, apparently you and Naruto have done wonders for the company," Sasuke shrugged slightly.

"It's alright," He said and then catching Sakura's disappointed expression he decided to elaborate. "It's much more peaceful," He said after a while. "And if you have been told everything you'll know what I mean by that," Sakura gave him a small smile.

"No Itachi," She said and she rubbed the red mark on her wrist slightly which made Sasuke frown.

"I didn't want you to have any part in that," He said softly and Sakura stared at him. "I'm sorry I couldn't find any way to protect you." Sasuke looked at Sakura closely as she processed this new information and he flinched away from her as she reached out to him quietly saying his name Sakura paused slightly and lowered her hand.

"Well," She said brightly and Sasuke wondered if he had imagined the frown that had crossed her face moments before. "As long as you're happy now," Sasuke gave her a strange look before muttering;

"I suppose so." He moved away from her believing that he had in some way failed her despite her smiles.

He had allowed a small bit of hope in his life from Matsuri's words, something that he'd have to thank her for in time, and found a new job and a small bit of happiness but he thought that he had already done enough damage to Sakura's life and that despite her understanding nature he didn't think she would be able to accept him so easily in her life after everything he couldn't protect her either way.

"I still go to the coffee shop on my day off you know," Sakura said and Sasuke half turned to look at her. "So maybe it would be nice to see you sometime, it would be nice to meet up as friends and get rid of any awkwardness." She smiled at him, "especially as Hinata and Naruto seem to be getting quite serious about each other." Sasuke nodded slightly before giving her a small wave goodbye.

He walked away down the street feeling amazed at Sakura's generous nature especially after she had witnessed firsthand what close contact with Sasuke could mean. She was the type of person that could just give without asking for anything in return and gain some sort of pleasure out of it. It was something Sasuke knew he could never do whether it was selfishness or foolishness Sasuke knew that he wouldn't be able to be just friends with Sakura after everything even for Naruto's sake he couldn't be near her and watch her find happiness with another man but after seeing Itachi with Sakura he felt his weakness and inability to protect her keenly so Sasuke felt that he was unable to act on his own feelings.

Sasuke spent the rest of the afternoon in a sort of haze he mindlessly went through his work and it was only when Naruto knocked on the door that he realised how much time had passed.

"I was just going to get a drink if you want one," Naruto said and raised his empty mug.

"Alright," Sasuke said and stood up stretching slightly after sitting down for so long. Naruto grinned as Sasuke joined him.

"I met up with Hinata at lunch today," Naruto said with a grin and Sasuke rolled his eyes which made Naruto seem rather put out.

"I know I heard you leave, I don't think you could have made any more noise if you tried," Naruto scowled at him.

"Hey that's not fair, besides surely it would have been rude for me to keep her waiting." He protested and Sasuke smiled slightly.

"I'm sure she would have forgiven you," He said and a dreamy look crossed Naruto's face.

"Yeah, she would." He said and leant again the wall as Sasuke ended up preparing coffee for them both, he stuck a few sticks of sugar in Naruto's hand with a disgusted look on his face that made Naruto laugh.

"There's nothing wrong with a bit of sugar Sasuke," He said pouring each sachet in and Sasuke shrugged. "It makes it taste better anyway."

"It does not," Sasuke muttered taking a sip of his own coffee and this time it was Naruto's turn to grimace as he added a bit of milk to his own drink.

"I can't understand how you can drink your coffee black." He said with a theatrical shudder and Sasuke smiled, Naruto could easily brighten someone's mood without intending to he was slowly stopping Sasuke from dwelling on Itachi and Sakura and onto more frivolous things.

"Because it tastes better this way," Sasuke said smoothly, "instead of sticking sugar in everything like you seem to do." Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke who gave him a flat look, "aren't you a bit old to do that?" Sasuke said and Naruto grinned.

"Maybe you're right, I shouldn't put sugar in my tea anymore," Sasuke shot him a suspicious look and Naruto's grin widened. "Beside's I'm obviously sweet enough, I don't need it," Sasuke snorted and Naruto elbowed him in the ribs. "Hey, I resent that."

"I didn't say anything," Sasuke protested and Naruto kept smiling at him. "What?" Sasuke asked narrowing his eyes.

"It's nothing, nothing." Naruto said airily waving his hands in the air. "It's just, I'm glad you seem to be less grouchy these days," Sasuke glared at him and Naruto muttered "or not."

"You're such an idiot," Sasuke muttered and Naruto scowled at him.

"It's true," He insisted. "Ever since you've gotten this job you seem to have been happier."

"What does it matter anyway?" Sasuke asked and Naruto sighed thinking that Sasuke was a bit of a hopeless case when it came to these sorts of things.

"I want you to be happy," Naruto said softly and Sasuke gave him a sharp look.

"I am happy, I think." He said and Naruto looked away out of the window gazing at the traffic below them.

"You know," He mused. "When you were spending time with Sakura you seemed, I don't know." He paused searching for the right word, "gentler I suppose." Sasuke chose to ignore him and Naruto sighed.

"I really don't get you." Naruto muttered giving Sasuke an uncharacteristically hard look, "now the only thing you have holding you back from real happiness is yourself."

"Just because you think Hinata is, what's the expression? You're other half? Soul mate? Doesn't mean that I need someone to make me happy I'm fine on my own." Sasuke insisted knowing that Naruto would probably see through the lie.

"Sure you are," Naruto said. "Which is why you've been in a constant bad mood since you broke up with Sakura which was apparently for her own good." Sasuke gave him a furious look as Naruto had unwittingly brought back memories or Itachi and Sakura and his inability to protect the people he cared about the most, first Naruto had been hurt and then Sakura.

"Why are you even fighting against this anymore?" Naruto asked sounding genuinely confused and Sasuke frowned.

"Because right now," He said with a weary sigh, "there's nothing I can do for her." Naruto opened his mouth to protest but Sasuke brushed passed him after picking up his mug of coffee and walked swiftly back to the small office he had been allocated, he sat down in the chair, setting down his coffee and buried his head in his hands releasing a long sigh.

Sasuke frowned slightly wondering why so many people were telling him to find happiness. It had been a long time since Sasuke could remember feeling truly happy, it was probably when he was young enough and naive enough to not see any wrong in the world, although a small voice inside him reminded Sasuke that he had still managed to share some sort of happiness with Sakura.

Sasuke sighed, somehow everything went back to her he turned his attention back to his work and then sometime between then and the end of the day he realised what everyone had figured out before, something that Sasuke hadn't want to admit to himself for a long time. He was late in acknowledging his feelings but he knew now that his relative happiness depended on Sakura and her presence in his life. Sasuke ran his hands through his hair feeling irritated.

"Shit." He muttered as he wondered what to do next despite her open invitation to meet her at the coffee shop any time he wanted Sasuke felt as if he couldn't just walk up to her easily and ask for her to give him another chance not after Itachi had openly made his intentions clear.

Sasuke glanced up at the door and saw Gaara pass by and then he remembered that there was something he could do, he could go back to the reason this all started, the reason why Itachi was a constant menacing shadow in Sasuke's life, why he had expended so much energy trying to push Sasuke out of their family's business and why he had spent the most of his adult life trying to make Sasuke's a living hell.

Without really thinking Sasuke stood up and leant out of the door looking down the corridor, he could still see Gaara who had paused to talk to one of the other workers of the floor Sasuke was on.

"Hey Gaara," Sasuke said once the other man had finished. "Could you give me Matsuri's phone number?" Gaara frowned at him and walked back along the corridor toward him.

"Why?" He asked and Sasuke felt slightly uncomfortable under his severe look.

"I just want to ask her if she'd do something for me that's all."


	18. Chapter 18

Sakura Haruno was looking forward to a quiet day off. She had nothing to do all day and had decided to spend her afternoon in the coffee shop with a new book and although part of her was looking forward to a lazy day, another fairly large part of her was hoping that Sasuke had listened to her when she said she still went to the coffee shop and that he would find her there.

Sakura still lived in hope and she still missed Sasuke's company, but now all she felt she could do for him was wait until he came back to her and if he didn't the she'd eventually be able to move on.

She spent the morning in her small house, cleaning and tidying and in no time at all in was the afternoon and after gathering her belongings she turned off the television that she had on for some background noise as she did her chores. By this time the news was on and Sakura paused slightly as the newsreader began to introduce a new story that was apparently "breaking news" when she realised it was something about the business world Sakura rolled her eyes and turned the television off as it wasn't anything that interested her and headed down town.

Sakura walked down town wrapped up in many layers to ward off the cold. It was fairly busy in the coffee shop but there were still a few empty tables about and Sakura settled herself on a small table by the window with a large coffee opening her book to the first page with some excitement.

As the minutes passed Sakura became absorbed in what she was reading and forgot all about the possibility that Sasuke could arrive as she became drawn into the interesting new world the book offered. Sakura was so intent on her book that she didn't see the young man pause at the window outside the coffee shop taking in her appearance, a small smile on his face as he saw how interested she seemed in what she was reading. After a moment's thought he moved over to the doorway and Sakura didn't even look up as the bell above the door rang as he entered.

The dark haired young man hesitated slightly in the doorway pausing momentarily before moving over to the table to join the lone girl reading by the window. Sasuke looked down at Sakura as he rested his hands on the back of the empty chair and cleared his throat. Sakura jumped.

"Sasuke," She said in surprise. "What are you doing here?" Sasuke looked slightly awkward as if he wasn't sure how to answer her question before he asked one of his own.

"Can I join you?" He asked and Sakura gave him a welcoming smile.

"Sure," She said and indicated for him to take a seat.

"How have you been?" Sasuke asked and Sakura carefully placed her bookmark in her book before closing it.

"Alright really. Nothing interesting has happened since I met you last week, works been busy and I saw Sai again."

"Did you?" Sasuke said flatly and Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Jeez, I ran into Naruto that day as well I don't understand how he took a sudden dislike to him as well. It's not like you've even met him anyway." Sasuke shrugged slightly refusing to say that he didn't like the idea of her being so friendly with Sai in case the other man ended up replacing him in Sakura's life. "Hinata and Naruto seem to be doing well." Sakura added trying to move the conversation into more common grounds.

"Yeah they are," Sasuke said quietly. "She means the world to Naruto."

"They're quite sweet really." Sakura said with a smile and Sasuke nodded only half listening as his thoughts turned towards the real reason he came to see Sakura.

"What did Naruto tell you?" Sasuke asked suddenly, "You said everything."

"Naruto told me you'd been in hospital." Sakura started hesitantly as she realised that this was probably the reason he came to see her, "and that Itachi had been the cause. He said that just recently you broke his nose before you quit your job." She said with a brief smile, "and I saw you probably doing it again a few days ago." Sasuke looked down at the table tracing the lines of the wood with his finger.

"Right." He muttered and Sakura cautiously reached out a hand to lay it over Sasuke's and she was faintly surprised when he didn't shake it off although he still seemed unable to meet her eyes and instead concentrated on their two hands.

"I do forgive you, you know," Sasuke said and she saw Sasuke frown slightly. "I cried when you broke up with me at first." She continued. "I was upset, angry even, I couldn't understand why you did it but everything's fine now."

"Is it?" Sasuke muttered to himself and then he looked up at Sakura, he turned his hand round on the table to he was grasping her fingers. "Why? Why would you forgive me for that?"

"Because I know you cared enough about me to let me go." She said with a small smile and Sasuke looked down at their joined hands again.

"That doesn't make sense." He said and Sakura shrugged and looked down at their entwined hands as well, enjoying the feel of his hands in hers.

"Yes it does." She said and this time it was Sasuke's turn to shrug, "maybe this show's that I'm just a much nicer person that you anyway." She saw Sasuke frown slightly and added, "well more forgiving anyway." Many patrons of the cafe watched the young couple that used to be familiar to the place, first coming to the cafe on their own and then together. Two of the staff stood whispering to each other as they enjoyed a lull in the amount of customers coming into the coffee shop, they watched as an awkward silence seemed to have fallen between two of their old customers.

"Sakura, I really need to talk to you." Sasuke said finally pulling away from her and linking his finger together in front of him, Sakura gave him an inquisitive look.

"Then what were we doing beforehand?" She asked with a smile that Sasuke didn't respond too, he didn't even notice that she had attempted to make a joke. "Okay then," Sakura said after a moment's pause. "What do you want to talk about?"

"The stuff that Naruto told you," Sasuke began hesitantly. "I want you to know what really happened and not just Naruto's guesswork and ideas about it." Sakura nodded unable to speak in case he stopped and changed his mind.

"There's always been some sort of competition between Itachi and me especially as he was so academic at school and my father didn't help as he heavily favoured Itachi and always compared my marks at school with his. My mother always tried to smooth things over although it was obvious to everyone that Itachi was the golden child in the family." Sasuke continued as he looked down fixedly at his hands on the table.

"My father loved what Itachi could do for the family and put a lot of his hopes for the company in him and when Itachi went away to university he'd changed, things were different je seemed, I don't know really, at first he seemed really sad and then it was more anger than anything else.

"Before he went away, Itachi used to try to get my father to acknowledge me as well, he stuck up for me and offered to go to school events in the place of my father but I think I heard from my mum that he fell into a bad crowd and since then he wasn't the same, he was less talkative and kept to his self and I was still young thenI wanted to know what had happened to him." At this point Sasuke seemed to struggle with what he was saying and Sakura reached over the table again to place her hand over his to offer him some reassurance. Sasuke seemed to gain strength from her actions and looked up at Sakura as he continued.

"One night when my parents were away, I think they were celebrating and anniversary or something Itachi had a visitor, and this is something that Naruto couldn't have told you." He added with a wry smile. "I overheard them talking when I went downstairs to try and talk to Itachi and see what had made him so different.

"From what I heard there seemed to be some ideas to improve the shares of the company somehow and there was an up and coming company that was threatening the Uchiha Company and in time they could probably take over our market, I can remember my father being worried about it. I think that the people Itachi was spending time with were used to underhanded dealings and I heard them talking about ways to sabotage the company so all of its investors would lose faith in it and withdraw all of their money making it go bankrupt." Sasuke frowned slightly.

"It was something about irregularities in their accounts and planting false evidence. It was already done when they were talking about it and they were waiting for news to get out and I heard the man congratulating Itachi for doing it so well.

"When Itachi showed the man out he saw that I was standing there and was furious, maybe he thought I would ruin everything for him especially as I didn't know what it meant back then, I thought it was just a normal business transaction. He said it was something I should never have known about." Sasuke said shrugging slightly and he could see Sakura looking at him with such concern in her eyes, "there was a storm that night and well, it seemed like he was taken over by another person I couldn't believe that the person doing it was my brother. When my parents came back I was still in hospital but the bruises had faded except the ones on my ribs and when they visited Itachi had already told them something about an accident. Of course by then the company had gone bust and all their custom and investors had moved over to us. Father was overjoyed but every time that company was mentioned Itachi made it clear that I wasn't supposed to say anything, besides why would my father believe me over Itachi.

"Since then Itachi began discrediting me when he could, no matter how hard I worked at school of university he always found a way to suggest I could do better and my father never expected anything much from me, just to work in the family company under my brighter and so much better brother for the rest on my life." At this point Sakura felt she should speak up as Sasuke seemed to be lost in his own world filled as he lost all sense of his own self worth, falling back into some half belief that his brother and father were right about his potential.

"Temari tells me that you've been doing wonders for the Sabaku Company," Sakura said and Sasuke looked at her blankly. "No really, she's Gaara and Kankuro's sister so she gets to hear all sorts of stuff about the company. Even Gaara's impressed with what you've done and he's apparently very hard to please." She smiled at him. "You've made things more efficient and apparently you make a good team when working with Naruto." Sasuke gave her a half smile as he acknowledged her attempts to make him feel better and gently squeezed her hand.

"I'm fine, I suppose I should know better by now," Sasuke said and Sakura shook her head.

"It's stupid, although I don't know much about business at all, to be honest it doesn't really interest me, but I can tell just by knowing your personality that you could have done wonders at your family's company it's their own fault for not recognising it and a large gain for Gaara and Kankuro instead."

"Do you not know anything about the business news then?" Sasuke asked and Sakura frowned thinking that it was such a strange turning the conversation.

"No not really, there was something on the news today wasn't there? I didn't really pay attention to it," She said and Sasuke studied her carefully.

"You know lots of people kept telling me to be happy, you were one of them," He said and Sakura nodded.

"After everything I think you deserve to be happy," She said firmly and Sasuke smiled.

"I sold Itachi out to the Uchiha's shareholders." He said and Sakura stared at him.

"You what?" She asked and Sasuke gave her a rueful smile.

"I left an anonymous report of what Itachi had done then and there were other cases of causing rival companies to make massive losses and he's been questioned about this, it's meant that the Uchiha corporation has made massive losses and the stocks plummeted." Sakura blinked at him.

"You've lost me," She said and Sasuke sighed.

"There's a girl, Matsuri, who I met at the Uchiha offices that used to work for the Sabaku Company. I asked her if she could get me into the Uchiha building and she kept a look out as I got into Itachi's office with Naruto who insisted on joining me. He'd left documents about what he did, contact details and how he sabotaged each company," Sasuke added and Sakura gave him a small smile "Itachi was always very thorough in recording his work" He said with a strange smile on his face "it was his one of his redeeming qualities."

"The next company he was aiming for was the Sabaku Company so that was lucky I guess but now Itachi's got a lot to answer for there's plenty of angry people out there who lost jobs, businesses or even money by investing in an up and coming company that Itachi destroyed." Sasuke gave Sakura a very melancholy smile "I sold out my only brother and I've caused considerable damage to my family's company I don't know how they'll recover, although I think Gaara was thinking about offering them a merger, partly to salvage what was left of a great company and I think he wants Matsuri back working with him."

Sakura was silent as she gently squeezed his hand in a reassuring manner as she tried to gather her thoughts. Its seemed so unreal to her to hear what Sasuke had lived through, she knew situations like his existed but they seemed so far away, so unimaginable to her as Sakura had lived a quiet but happy existence with her two loving parents. And yet there was still something of the young Sasuke that remained, a childlike innocence that had only emerged when he didn't want Sakura to leave late at night and the soft, wondrous smiles they had shared.

"Is that everything?" Sakura asked gently trying to piece together all the pieces of Sasuke's life that he had told her with the things she had heard from Naruto and her experiences with Itachi. Sasuke shook his head and Sakura wondered what else he had to tell her. He removed his hand from hers and buried his head in his hands with a soft groan.

"He'd left it all out on his desk," Sasuke said and Sakura frowned at him.

"What?" She asked.

"Itachi. It was all there, laid out for anyone to see like he expected us to do it." Sasuke said irritably "No, I know he was waiting for me to try and get into his office, he'd left a damned post-it note on it telling us the best way to tell people about it all." Sakura stared at him, she was even more confused than before.

"What?" She repeated blankly.

"It's like he wanted us to do it, to publically disgrace my family's company. If you look closely at the files it looked like Itachi was acting on someone else's instructions when he did this. So maybe, I don't know. I just don't know what to think anymore about him."

"Okay," Sakura said after a while. "Well, take your time I guess, this sounds like a lot to take in."

"There's something else," Sasuke muttered and Sakura began to wonder what else he could throw at her today.

"Alright, what is it?" She asked cautiously and this time Sasuke was determinedly not looking at her.

"Sakura," Sasuke started hesitantly looking through his hands at the empty cup of coffee on the table. There was a faint flush on his face but Sakura dismissed this as from the warmth of the coffee shop as she looked at him curiously.

"What is it?" Sakura asked as Sasuke kept looking determinedly at the cup.

"I think I love you." He said quietly as Sakura stared at him wondering if she had misheard she leaned forward slightly to try and hear him more clearly. "I mean," He continued desperately, "I can't stop thinking about you. I miss talking to you and I hate not being with you even though you talk way too much, you babble about anything when you're nervous and I don't know why I just do." He finished lamely.

Sakura stared at Sasuke too shocked to say anything, off all the things he could have had left to say she never expected this. She looked across the small table at his wary expression and knew that this man who had just pored his heart out to her, shared his most intimate secrets was everything she wanted right now. Sasuke watched apprehensively as Sakura stared at him, and then she smiled.

"Sasuke," She said softly before leaning over the small coffee table they sat at. She reached out, tilting his head up so he was looking up at her a wary look in his eyes. Sakura smiled at him once again and, in front of all the customers and staff who had watched them come and go throughout the year, she pressed her lips against his and kissed him.

They broke apart and Sakura smiled again and just as Sasuke was about to smile back at her a voice shattered the blissful world they had created around themselves.

"Does this mean you're back together?" They turned to see a group of their friends behind them, it was Ino who had spoken and Naruto was slightly behind her with a knowing look on his face. They blushed suddenly aware that they had gained the attention of almost half the cafe as well.

"Uh," Sasuke started and then Ino interrupted him.

"Well why not," She demanded with a glower on her face. "We all know you like her and you're brother's not an issue anymore." Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto who attempted to hide behind Hinata.

"Naruto just how many people did you tell?" He asked and Naruto gave a sheepish laugh.

"Not many, only when it seemed to come up in conversation." He said and Sakura glanced at Ino.

"I think between Ino and Naruto you know that they'd manage to broadcast it to everyone we know."

"You didn't have to say anything," Sasuke insisted and Naruto peered around Hinata looking indignant.

"Of course I did I was happy for you, I thought I'd spread the good news."

"So you can ask Sakura out now." Ino said pleasantly but there was an underlying 'or else' in her tone of voice..

"Just leave them alone Ino," Shikamaru sighed which made her turn on him.

"I don't see why you're butting in so suddenly," She said and Sasuke groaned.

"Why aren't they all at work at this time," He muttered and Sakura giggled.

"It's funny," Hinata said suddenly. "I can remember them trying to warn Sakura away from Sasuke several months ago," Naruto grinned at this and Neji shook his head.

"This is why I will never understand women." He muttered, "they always change their minds so quickly."

"What was that?" Tenten asked and for a moment they saw fear flash across Neji's face as she turned her attention to Neji after watching Ino shouting at Shikamaru with some amusement.

"Sasuke." Sakura said softly drawing his attention away from their friends who were all bickering and making a scene. "For what it's worth I think I love you too." He smiled at her and glanced back at their friends who were still arguing with the exception of Hinata who was being used as a shield by Naruto as Neji began arguing with him.

"Do you want to go somewhere else?" Sasuke asked looking back at her.

"Now?" Sasuke said.

"Why not?" Sasuke stood up and offered her his hand and Sakura paused for a few moments.

"Sure," She said and reached out to take his hand, Sasuke pulled her to her feet and waited as Sakura gathered her belongings. "Where are we going?" Sakura asked and Sasuke shrugged.

"I'm not sure yet," He said. "We'll have to see." Sakura smiled at him as they left the coffee shop hand in hand unnoticed by their still bickering friends.

She thought about the future knowing that they'd probably argue and annoy each other, that there would be times that she'd spend the whole day in Sasuke's company wishing it would last forever and never want to be anywhere else and times that she'd not see him and have to make do with just a phone call. They'd have their ups and downs but this time Sakura felt confident that it would last.

Sakura leant over and kissed Sasuke on the cheek and he frowned at her.

"What was that for?" He asked and Sakura smiled.

"Nothing." She said innocently as she looked up at him, glad that she would be sharing her future with him. Sasuke gave her a considering look before leaning down and cupping her face in his hands as he kissed her properly forcing the people on the street to move around them.

"That was nothing too," He said and took her hand again.

And who knew what the future could bring as long as they could face it together.

END

That's it! This is finally over, thank you to everyone who's stuck with it so far and to those who have read, reviewed or favourite this. The song at the bottom is the reason I thought of doing a sequel in the first place so I should give it some credit for giving me the original ideas even if the story's taken on a different shape than I originally intended it too. I'm glad I wrote this all the same as I think it turned out a lot better than Coffee, probably because when I started it I had a rough outline with what I wanted to do with it, but now I'm going to start working on something completely different

"Hold your head up and face the day.  
Seems like everybody's got a way  
to say "I'm doing OK."  
I'm OK as long as you're happy-  
Without me.  
Without my hand- to hold.  
Without my jacket- to keep you warm when you're cold."

~Bowling for Soup "Love Sick Stomach-ache (Sugar Coated Accident)"


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